


Beneath the Surface

by CiderCakesGilly (webcomix)



Series: Unlikely Duos [3]
Category: Stardew Valley (Video Game)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Family Bonding, Family Issues, Family Secrets, Game Spoilers, Gen, POV Alternating, Platonic Relationships, Unlikely Duos
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-28
Updated: 2017-09-30
Packaged: 2018-09-20 06:23:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 16
Words: 40,886
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9479279
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/webcomix/pseuds/CiderCakesGilly
Summary: Suffocating mother, ignorant father. Suffocating father, silent brother. Abigail and Maru may have more in common than they first realise. But as they mine materials, slay monsters, and dig a little more into each other's lives, they also unearth one of Stardew Valley's deepest secrets.





	1. Abigail

**Author's Note:**

> Stardew Valley belongs to Eric Barone, aka ConcernedApe.
> 
> Yes, I acknowledge the multiple mining-related puns in the summary. I'm very proud.

“Abby, what is this?”

Abigail jumped when her bedroom door abruptly opened. The joystick in her hands jerked, and the little cowboy on screen was instantly swarmed by enemies. She gritted her teeth and turned off the game. “What’s what, mom?”

Caroline walked inside. Abigail’s parents never knocked. On the rare occasion that they did, it was merely a two-second warning before they barged in...at best. Abigail didn’t even have time to put down the game controller before her mother was upon her, waving a paper.

“It’s from Barone University in Zuzu City! Is this about your online classes?”

Abigail stood up and took the envelope from her mother’s hands. To her relief, it hadn’t been opened yet. That was an improvement from the time Caroline had discovered the Abigail had signed up for a pen pal site. Apparently, exchanging addresses with a kid from Castle Village was on par with revealing state secrets to a spy for the Gotoro Empire. Abigail had to insist that her pen pal wasn’t a stalker who was going to find their store and ransack it in the middle of the night, and even then it took her the next letter to realise that they had sent her a velvet hair ribbon as a present. She had finally found it in her parents’ room, hidden in a drawer and sealed tightly in a plastic bag. There were very loud words shouted that evening. The pen pal had long since ceased corresponding, probably freaked out that some random Stardew Valley housewife was snooping through her letters.

Caroline hovered as Abigail silently tore off the flap. “Your end of term grades? What does it say? How many credits do you have left?”

“For the love of Yoba… give me some space!” Abigail walked away and opened the folded report. B- for her history and mythology course. That was a pleasant surprise - Abigail often forgot to hand assignments before the deadline. It wasn’t that she didn’t have any heart in learning. The readings had been really interesting, actually. Abigail simply hated being constrained to any sort of limit, even time.

She had just finished digesting this before the paper was plucked from her hands. “B-? Well…” Caroline did not do a good job at hiding her disappointment. “At least you tried, right?…Wait.”

Abigail took in a deep breath, steeling herself for the inevitable. Caroline became steadily louder. “You dropped _two_  more classes? Abigail! One of them was over halfway through the term too. Why? That’s money we can’t get back. You’ll never graduate at this rate!”

Abigail whirled around. “I didn’t want to study economics or agriculture! You made me sign up for those. So of course I was failing! Your money would have been wasted anyway.”

Caroline closed her eyes and put her hand on her sternum. The image of a long-suffering caretaker, but Abigail knew better. “Abigail, you have to understand. I just want you to have a good future. I was hoping those classes could teach you something so you could help your father with the store, or perhaps you could…over at CiderCakes…”

Abigail laughed. “Mom, Gilly is a cool person, but that is not ever going to happen.”

“Well, forgive me for caring about you!” Caroline tried to throw the report onto Abigail’s bed, but it simply fluttered pathetically to the floor. “You can’t live the rest of your life with purple hair and wandering around graveyards. One day, you’ll have to leave that behind and grow up. You keep on complaining that we don’t treat you like one, but sometimes independence means taking temporary sacrifices.”

“And if temporary turns into permanent?” Abigail bounced down onto her bed, kicking her legs out. She was aware of how childish that looked, particularly after a lecture about being an adult, but she couldn’t help it. These arguments always filled her with a furious energy. It made her want to lash out, kick, punch, flail, anything to make a dent in that invisible wall between them. “I’m not going to fulfill _your_ dreams, I’m going to follow my own.”

“Pierre, come help me.” Caroline walked over to the open door. “Abigail is being difficult again.”

Abigail could hear distant shuffling. “What is it?” She saw a glimpse of her father, several bottles of vinegar tucked under both his arms. “Make it quick, I’m setting up a start of season sale display on cooking items, then I need to catalogue and put away the fall seeds for next year.”

“Please speak to your daughter,” Caroline said. “She doesn’t appreciate all we’ve done for her while she _claims_ to finish school.”

Abigail's fingers found her pillow, and her nails dug into the fluff. There was nothing more infuriating than when her mother pulled the whole speaking like she wasn't there gimmick. Pierre poked his head through the doorway. Abigail knew he wouldn’t come any closer due to his allergies. “Abby, listen to your mother.”

“That’s it?” Caroline exclaimed.

“I’m very busy right now!” His voice faded away with the sound of retreating footsteps.

Caroline sighed. “I get no support from this family.”

Abigail choked out a laugh. “That is both a super ironic and super hilarious thing for you to say.”

Her mother frowned. “Abby, you just turned 20 years old. You’ll need to face these hard truths some time. We can’t always get what we want. Sometimes things need to come to an end.”

Abigail looked away. Her mother always ended their fights with such statements. As far as Abigail knew, there wasn’t anything she’d given up. Caroline seemed perfectly content fussing about her garden, gossiping with the other ladies in town, promoting the store, and nag, nag, nagging. Nagging about Abigail’s hair, about Abigail’s clothes, about her video games and drumming, about her not helping with dinner or cleaning or any other chore…about literally everything.

Caroline shook her head and left. As soon as the door clicked closed, Abigail jumped to her feet. She could still feel her rage running through her arms and legs, practically screaming through her bloodstream. She couldn’t stay in this building for another minute. Who cared if dinner was supposed to be in an hour? She had to get out.

Abigail went over to her dresser. Beside it, David the guinea pig’s legs were a blur as he set his wheel spinning. If only Abigail had a big rodent wheel of her own to race on when she wanted to let off steam, but no luck there. Instead, she pulled open the bottommost drawer and dug through her clothes. There was a low _thunk_ as she withdrew an old, rusty broadsword. She had found it a few seasons ago in the mysterious wooded space to the west of Cindersap Forest, stuck in a big hardwood stump. Her muscles had ached dragging it home, but whenever her parents were away, she would take it out and try a few experimental swings. It was easily her most treasured possession. Abigail gripped the handle with both hands and felt the weight of the blade in her arms. She just wanted to get away. Abigail allowed the sword to drop. She reached into the dresser and hastily wrapped an old blanket around it, tying it off at the top. It was a poor disguise, but better than anything else she had in the house.

The door hinges decided not to betray her this time around. Abigail stepped into the hallway cautiously, clutching her blanket-wrapped secret. She could hear - and smell - her mother in the kitchen. Pots and pans clanged loudly. Clearly, there was enough rage in this household to go around. Navigating around her father would be infinitely easier than trying to sneak past her mother.

Abigail slowly walked into the store. Pierre was behind the counter, completely absorbed in the sign he was stencilling with marker. She had hoped she could get all the way out of the front door before he was done, but the tinkle of the bell gave her away.

“Sorry, we’re closed for the d-” He glanced up through his glasses. “Oh, Abby. Everything alright now?”

Abigail quelled another sharp pang of adrenaline that shot up her arms. An overbearing parent and a clueless one. How had this ever happened to her? “Yeah. I’m just gonna take a walk.”

He didn’t even notice the bulky object by her leg. Abigail was sure that he’d have an absolute freak out if he did, but Pierre waved her away. “Good, good. Come home soon. It’ll get cold tonight.”

She strode out the door without another word. A cold wind instantly slapped her in the face. Abigail looked around the town square, taking in the final sights of fall: the crisp, crackling leaves, parched brown grass, withering pumpkins leaning against hay bales. The lampposts glowed softly through the misty gloom. Her heart lurched, knowing that by the time she came back tonight, this sight would be gone.

Abigail turned and looked at her path: the trail up the mountain. It was a pretty familiar one, since she took it regularly to go hang out at Sebastian’s house. She liked the lake over there; it was quiet and far, far away from her family. When she stood by the shore, she could see clear across it to the rocky cliffs of their valley, all the way from the pointed summits down to the dirt-flecked sides. The water would flow past her down towards the river from a gaping hole in the mountain face. The current was much too swift to follow, but beside it was another opening. It was held up by wooden beams and illuminated by a single, rusty lantern: the entrance to the mines. Abigail had spent several seasons staring at that entrance, wondering at what lay inside.

Tonight she would find out. She glanced down at the bundle in her arms. The blanket had, ancient days ago, been patterned with small daisies, but she could still feel the edge of the blade through the padding. The lights suddenly flicked off behind her. Abigail looked back and saw her father walking away from the counter to the house. She knew that if she stayed for even a minute more, he’d be back out to demand she eat dinner first. Sent by her mother, of course.

The rage flared up inside again. Abigail clutched the sword to her chest and hurried up the trail.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm very excited to share this story with you guys - the (pretty detailed) outline has taken up 5 single spaced pages in my notebook. Thank you for reading, and I hope you're excited too!


	2. Maru

Evenings at 24 Mountain Road were pretty peaceful. Maru sat cross-legged on her bedroom floor, wiping off her tools. She was glad that there was time to clean up before dinner. Savoury smells wafted down the hallway and through her open door. She could hear the distant noises of her parents puttering around the kitchen. Sunday dinners were a tradition in their household, and on the final night before winter, a delicious harvest spread was promised.

“Maru, dinner!” called her father.

She hopped to her feet, kicking the greasy rag aside with one foot. “Coming!”

Her mother raised her voice over the sound of the oven door opening and closing. “Tell Sebby too, please? He promised to eat with us.”

Maru was already halfway down the corridor, wiping her hands on the sides of her overalls. She paused at a framed photograph of their family from ages ago. There she was, just a bundle in her father’s arms. And there was her brother too, a young child clutching their mother’s hand. He was squinting and frowning at the camera. That had set a default expression Maru would see in every family picture since.

“Okay.” She turned back. Slowly walking past the laboratory and shop, Maru crept down the basement staircase. The door at its end was locked, as usual. She leaned forward from the bottom step and nervously tapped against the wood a few times.

“Hey, Sebastian…” Maru hesitated. “Food’s ready.” She quickly ran back up the stairs before he could respond. He wouldn’t, anyway.

In the kitchen, her parents were almost finished. A lock of Robin’s red hair had escaped her bun and drooped towards the tablecloth, where she was setting out the silverware. Her eyes squinted as she gave Maru a warm smile. Demetrius had his back to them both, hefting up a heavy glass casserole dish from the hot oven. He struck an amusing sight in a chef’s apron rather than the usual lab coat. Mashed pumpkin and yam glistened and steamed from the dish. It soon joined a large pot of spaghetti and a bowl of tomato sauce on the table. Maru’s stomach grumbled. Then, a shadow fell across the food.

“Sebastian!” Robin hurried over and put her arm around him, as if she was afraid he was going to slip away without a firm grasp. “Just in time.”

Sebastian blinked. His hoodie drooped off his thin frame. There were holes in the sleeves, perfectly positioned for his thumbs to poke through. Sebastian shook the choppy side bangs out of his eyes and mumbled, “I thought you said pumpkin soup.”

“I know, but there were yams too and D wanted to make Autumn’s Bounty,” Robin replied in an undertone. “I’m sorry. Just humour him, okay?”

Sebastian shot her a look of deep disappointment, but sat down beside Maru anyway. She thought about saying hi, but even a side glance felt wrong. Instead, Maru sat rigid as the food was heaped onto her plate. Robin’s eyes kept on darting over at her son, lovingly, nervously, apologetically as Demetrius began to talk to his daughter.

“So, any thought to what I suggested? Enrolling halfway through the year is perfectly possible, given that the fall semester just ended. If you sign up before the Feast of Winter Star, we’ll have just enough time to get everything sorted and you can get started on your bachelor’s.”

Maru still had a strand of spaghetti dangling from her mouth, so she couldn’t respond. She tried to slurp it up, but sauce just got all over her chin. She fumbled for her napkin.

“I’ve got contacts at the Zuzu Institute of Science and Technology. I’ll give them a call. Or, you can even try Ferngill U! They have a pre-med fast track programme that’s very highly ranked. You already have some experience from the hospital. If we get Dr. Harvey to write a letter of recommendation, that just might squeeze you onto a spot on the interview list…”

“D, relax. This is supposed to be a wholesome evening with family.” Robin waved her fork at him. “No theory talk.”

“I am not discussing theoretical science. This is Maru’s future.”

“They’re all your little theories on how to get her into school again. She just finished! I think a gap year’s perfectly fine.” Robin glanced at Sebastian again. “She’ll get the time to explore more of her passions. That’s good.”

Demetrius shook his head and his spoon clinked busily. “She’s already wasted a semester hanging around the valley. I agree that field experience is important, but you won’t get anywhere without a degree. It’s the only way to get good, reputable work. Otherwise your resume will become spotty and you’ll look unstable with all the short term, random jobs. Nobody will take you seriously. A quick online search will show you hundreds of self-proclaimed ‘science writers’ who are no more than puffed up bloggers who just like to spout their opinions without adequate sourcing. That’s what most of them are, lazy hacks who try to present themselves as professionals in spite of the fact they’ve never-”

Maru almost cringed. Meatballs rolled away from her as the table suddenly shook. Sebastian’s chair legs screeched as he pushed himself away from the table.

“I’m done,” he said. He picked up his plate and utensils. Maru saw his fingers whiten as they gripped them. The silence around the table amplified the noise of ceramic clattering against the sink’s sides. Robin glared at Demetrius while Maru stared down at her lap. Sebastian’s sneakers squeaked on the varnished hardwood floor.

Robin waited a few more seconds before throwing down her fork. “What is wrong with you?”

Demetrius, for the first time that night, looked confused. “What?”

“Sebastian’s been doing freelancing work for over two years now!”

Demetrius frowned. “But I wasn’t talking about him. He doesn’t write for academic journals, does he?”

“No, but your choice of words…” Robin pinched the bridge of her nose. “I just wanted a dinner with all of us together, was that too much to ask for?”

“I thought you would understand. After all, you were also at ZIST.” Demetrius looked at Maru. “We didn’t get acquainted until much later, of course, but you can see that networking is also a big part of the university experience…”

Robin stood. Her chair made a similar squeaking noise. “I’ll just start cleaning up now. You two can keep on eating. I’m not hungry either.”

“Let me help.” Maru started to stack the dirty dishes.

“No, it’s alright. Finish up first.” Robin quickly turned from them and dumped the dishes into the sink, a little more forcefully than necessary.

Demetrius cleared his throat awkwardly. Maru wasn’t sure if he fully comprehended what had actually happened. “Well…as I was saying. Even on your break, you should be thinking about this.”

Maru poked her fork into her mashed pumpkin. “I am. I just…”

“Just what?” Demetrius leaned forward, brows knitted in concern.

Maru shrugged. She had wished this conversation over from the moment it had started. “Have my own projects. Nothing big. I read an article about radio satellites, and thought it would be fairly easy to replicate with materials here. As long as it’s a short term mission using only battery power, amateur transmissions are allowed. What I’d like to do is to see if I could find a way to add recording devices. Even just a simple camera…”

Demetrius chewed thoughtfully. “Interesting. But it still sounds far too simple for you, Maru. You should challenge yourself. You would get that at university. It sounds like the Faculty of Engineering would be fitting.”

Maru gave up. She swallowed the cold pumpkin the best she could. “Okay. Thanks, dad.”

That was the official end of dinner. Maru stayed to clear up the table. Her mother smiled at her when she brought the remaining dishes over to the sink, but it was mechanical, a concerted effort of the cheek muscles to stave off awkwardness. Demetrius picked up a washcloth and began to dry without being asked. Maru appreciated that. At least he always tried to immediately make amends - even if he still wasn’t sure why people were upset with him.

Robin squeezed her shoulder. “We’re good here, hon. Go on back to your projects.”

Both her parents turned towards the sink, away from her. Maru knew her cue. She walked back down the corridor, glanced down the basement stairs at Sebastian’s silent door, then walked back into her room.

There were still tools scattered across the floor. A half-assembled machine lay with random gears and bolts laying around the greasy cloth it was set on. Maru grabbed the corners of the cloth and dragged all of it towards the wall. There wasn’t much point cleaning up if she was just going to take it out again later, but she made sure it was out of the way. She would be the first to admit that she was a pack rat. There were small items of every kind sitting on nearly every surface of her bedroom: books on her bed, tools on her bookshelf, and…socks in her tool kit? Maru fished out a pair and realised they were mismatched. She tossed them aside and they fell beneath her desk, where scrap graph paper covered in scribbled diagrams hung off her computer monitor, raw ores from the mines acting as paperweights. One of them had crumpled, printed directions on building the radio satellite on it. Maru picked it up and pinned it to her board.

Robin had built the house, of course, but she had let Maru decorate once she was old enough. There was only ever one choice: the velvety black wallpaper with shiny silver stars. Maru still remembered that painstaking afternoon in middle school when she had carefully painted over every single star with glow in the dark paint. Robin had left one wooden panel unpapered on the suggestion of Demetrius, who used it to pin up all the little awards and certificates Maru had gathered throughout the course of her young academic life. Once she was a teenager, she had taken away most of them, convincing her father that they would last longer in storage. Some of them were still there, like the faded blue ribbon from the Stardew Valley Science Fair back when she was in 4th grade. Demetrius was very attached to that one, since it was the first of many accolades to her supposed brilliance.

But that was it: showing off, nothing more. Maru had always found it kind of embarrassing. She often wondered if Sebastian had such a panel in his room. She wouldn’t know, as she had never been inside. Even as children, he had been the cagey, territorial type. They were only four years apart.

Well, she still made use of the board. There were a few letters from friends, sincere and sweet notes from her high school graduation. One of her teachers had gifted her a beautiful, glossy poster of their world from space. Maru traced a finger along the curvature of the planet. Swirling fronds of cloud obscured the location of Stardew Valley on the coast, but Maru knew just where it was. Wouldn’t it be amazing to admire home from up so high? That was actually the secret to her next project. There weren’t any good satellite images of the valley from Ferngill Republic's official Department of Space Exploration, probably because it was just so small and unimportant. But Maru felt it was important. It was her home. If Demetrius got his way and finally sent her packing, she wanted a memento of it in her way, from the work of her own hands.

Beneath the poser was an array of colour coded post it notes that functioned as a to-do list. She was easily distracted by new ideas or projects, so  Maru bent down and picked up one that had fallen down: blue. That meant an errand. She flipped it over and read what she had written several days ago.

_LENS!!!!!_

Right, her telescope had a cracked lens that required replacing. Refined quartz, that's what it needed. Come to think of it, the satellite instructions called for it too. Maru glanced at her watch. It was still pretty early, thanks to dinner being cut short. The mines were literally a short walk away. She had plenty of time.

She quickly threw on a jacket and readied her backpack. Outside, faint flakes of snow had begun to fall. Maru ducked her head to avoid getting them on her glasses and started heading to the mountain.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love Maru. If I start a THIRD save, she'll be my sweet'n smart space spouse! <3


	3. Abigail

She had beaten the snow. Abigail hovered in the entrance, holding her sword. She felt tiny wet kisses on the back of her arm when icy flakes blew in and melted on her skin. A chilly breeze crept up her back and over her shoulder, disappearing into the damp dark of the mines.

The inside was rather anticlimactic. The floor was packed earth. The walls looked like globs of earth hardened into stone. Cracks felt sandy under Abigail’s fingers. She could see two tunnels leading off from both sides through the dim, hazy light. The one on the right was blocked off by a particularly enormous rock. She poked the tip of her sword into it, and some dirt crumbled off. Well, this was something that couldn’t be dug around. Destiny awaited not through here. On the other side, an ancient mine cart perched on the end of a track that extended to the east, probably threading through the other hills in the valley. Abigail leaned over and inspected the wheels. Squeaky clean and well oiled, a contrasting sight to the creaky old planks and rusty bolts that made up the rest of it. She was tempted to hop in and see where it would take her, but the weight of her sword held her back. She had a different quest to begin.

Abigail turned her attention inwards again. Just off centre was the dark smudge of a hole: the real entrance to the mines.

She walked over, the tip of her sword almost dragging along the floor. At the hole’s edge, she crouched down. There was only blackness to be seen through the opening, after the top two rungs of a wooden ladder lashed to the sides with several lengths of twine. Abigail really hoped it was stronger than it looked. She could hear dripping noises and the low howl of the oncoming winter wind moaning through airways above. What lay waiting for her, beneath her feet?

She jumped when a screech ripped the air. A bat whizzed out of the hole, almost smacking her in the face before spiralling towards the ceiling. It continued circling there, squeaking frantically and bumping its little snout against the stone. Abigail smoothed down the goosebumps on her arms and laughed. It was just a cave, these were just stones, and it made perfect sense for nocturnal animals to make their homes here.

Before she could reach down for her sword, the ladder in the hole wobbled violently. Abigail had barely any time to react when an entire host of bats hurtled upwards, their leathery wings tangling in her hair, tiny claws scraping her cheeks, and the high pitched screaming vibrated through her skull, if not her whole body. Abigail heard her own voice joining the cacophony as she flailed wildly, scrabbling away from the assault on all fours. Her legs knocked against the sword and she dragged it and herself away from the hole to huddle at the back of the cave. She couldn’t stop shaking. She couldn’t tear her eyes away from the maelstrom of winged creatures swooping around and around over her, shrieking to one another as they lapped the cave walls in a riotous swarm.

One of them must have gotten a whiff of fresh air from the mine cart tunnel because the flock suddenly spun around and zoomed away in one swift move. The cave returned to its previous silent state. Abigail clamped her fingers around her biceps, willing them to stop shaking, but her knees continued to tremble.

“Hey, are you okay?”

The voice shocked her just as much as the bats, if not more. Abigail’s legs spasmed and she tripped, the wall scraping against her palm when she grabbed it for stability. She gripped the sword even harder, ready to defend herself.

She looked up and blinked instead.

It was Maru, Sebastian’s sister. Her eyes blinked back at Abigail from behind those enormous glasses. Everything about her screamed goody-goody. Maru was no more than 5'2, and that included the beanie pulled snug over her head. Her straight red hair stopped short right at the collar of a puffy winter jacket that made her look like a marshmallow. And she probably had - yep, she was wearing those ridiculous overalls too. Abigail remembered very well the spectacle that was Maru’s graduation ceremony during the summer, so she couldn’t be older than 18. But seriously, she looked 12 in those clothes… not that Abigail would have worn freaking overalls when she was 12. Even worse, Maru had hooked both her thumbs around the backpack straps like a child on their first day of school. Geez. Sebastian wasn’t kidding.

Abigail snapped, “What are YOU doing here?”

Maru looked startled for a moment, then frowned. “What are YOU doing here?”

“None of your business.” Abigail tried to hide the sword behind her leg, but it clinked against the rock face.

Maru paused and stared at it. Then she tugged on her backpack straps with her thumbs and shrugged. A clump of melting snow slipped off the canvas top. “Well, I won’t bother you. I’m just going in to get some minerals.”

“Great,” Abigail said. She stayed where she was while Maru shuffled over to the ladder. Just her terrible luck that another swarm of bats didn’t ascend and whisk the kid away - Maru grabbed the rungs and began to climb down, keeping her pace steady save for one little jiggle of the backpack when it snagged on the edges of the hole. Abigail remained rooted to the floor as the tip of Maru’s beanie finally disappeared into the ground.

The moment she was alone again, Abigail groaned. If only the caves could open up again and swallow her whole! She’d even have the bats back if their hovering little bodies could cover her burning face. Great? What kind of comeback was that? Abigail snatched up her sword and slashed at the wall. A dead tree root fell to the ground. Abigail paced around, chest heaving. Some kind of adventurer she made.

She stopped herself. She would not be outdone by Sebastian’s nerd sister. Abigail tightened her fingers around the sword, walked to the hole, and swung her legs down onto the ladder. She could feel her heart pounding, almost hear the blood pumping and adrenaline rushing through her veins as she focused step by step, rung by rung. The walls around her lightened as she arrived at the first level of the mines.

Abigail hopped down and looked around. She was in a small stone cavern. And that was it. Stones scattered across the ground in a carved out hollow of stone. Abigail couldn’t believe it. There was nothing here!

She heard a scraping noise and quickly raised her sword in fourth position, ready to parry. But there was literally no sign of trouble. Abigail walked around slowly, still holding her weapon aloft. Her foot bumped up against another pile of rubble, then wood. She looked down. Hey, another hole. This time, Abigail plunged right in without hesitation.

This level was much larger, but still more of the same. Stone in a stone cave, who would have thought? Abigail wondered vaguely where Maru had went. It didn’t really bother her though. She didn’t want anyone to witness more awkward, embarrassing moments. In the midst of these thoughts, Abigail became aware of something behind her. She turned and there was the strangest creature she’d even seen. It resembled a translucent green blob no bigger than say, a melon. She recoiled from the weird way it bounced over to her, its jelly-like flesh quivering with every smack onto the stone floor. She might have even called it kind of cute, in a monsterish way, when all of a sudden its eyes flashed red, and it launched its slimy self into the air - right towards her.

Abigail slashed with her sword. The green blob disintegrated against her blade with a sickening _SHLURK_. Abigail slowly lowered her arms. There was nothing left of the thing but a puddle of slime on the ground. Some of it congealed into a single, transparent, gloopy mass. Abigail poked it cautiously. To her surprise, it felt solid but cool against her skin. She decided against pocketing it.

Well, she had slain her first monster! Hopefully there would be more to come. Abigail stood a little straighter, grinning to herself in this empty cave. She really had been psyching herself out for no reason. The practise was paying off! This would be a cinch. She almost fell into a hole that had appeared right in front of her.

With a victory finally under her belt, Abigail powered through the first few levels of the mines eagerly. The caverns became bigger and the stones more plentiful, but confidence was a powerful armour. The little green slime blobs were no match for her iron broadsword, squishing them into gelatin pulp with each swing. She even found some interesting minerals to collect, such as a nutty brown earth crystal or a spiky cluster of quartz. Abigail sniffed the quartz, but refrained from putting it into her mouth. There was work to do. Weirdly, there was no sign of Maru. Or at least that’s what Abigail thought until she realised that the holes she was finding were always in a space clear from the random stones on the ground. There was usually a straight path to it from the previous ladder too. It was weird to think that she was following Maru, of all people, through these caves, Abigail thought as she hopped down yet another one. How was she dealing with the slime blobs? Abigail couldn’t imagine the tiny kid tugging out any sort of weapon from that dorky backpack.

A mechanical _ding_ interrupted her thoughts when she hopped off the latest ladder. Abigail looked round and was surprised to see a lightbulb flickering dimly over a creaky elevator door. There were two grimy buttons on the panel at its side. Abigail squinted up at the number painted on the door. Had she really been down five levels already?

She fished a silver pocket watch from her tunic. Her parents often pestered her about finding a more practical means of telling the time, but she'd insisted on it. Feeling the cold, heavy metal in the palm of her hand made her feel like sometime who would actually use such an old fashioned thing, like a pirate or a pioneer. It was nearly 10:30, meaning she had been slashing away below the earth for almost three hours. Abigail could hear the squishy sounds of her enemies in the distance, but five levels were enough for one trip. Getting home after midnight was not an option for her right now, considering the fact that she’d skipped dinner.

Abigail took the elevator back up. It was surprisingly swift for a creaky old box. As it lurched upwards, she found herself wondering about Maru once again. Abigail looked down at her broadsword, glinting dully in the lamp light. Did Maru have anything like that to defend herself with? How long had she even been down there? Maybe she’d gone back up without her noticing. It made her feel exceptionally weird to acknowledge this, but Abigail had to concede that Maru certainly knew her way around these caverns. She was still a teenager, too. Abigail pondered how long Maru had been coming here.

There was no sign of her once Abigail emerged from the mine entrance. The ground was covered in several inches of snow, with more falling, covering any footprints Maru might have left. Abigail was curious, but in the end, she didn’t really care. Her boots barely crunched in the fresh white powder, and she relished the cocoon of cold that wrapped itself around her. The entire valley felt muffled by the falling snow. Abigail skirted the large squares of light that spilled out of the Carpenter Shop windows, then passed the dilapidated shadow of the old Community Centre. Finally, she saw Pelican Town with the lamp post lights revealing glittering snow spinning down to settle in drifts upon the flower beds. Abigail stole back into the general store, heart pounding and the blanket-clad sword held tight against her side.

The store was pitch black. Her father’s sign was propped up in a prominent position on the counter. When Abigail reached the corridor of the house behind it, all was dark there too. She couldn’t even see a crack of light from beneath her parents’ bedroom door. Abigail stole into her room and quickly stashed her sword away in the dresser again. When she stood, she was surprised to see the plate of vegetable medley sitting on top of it. The food was cold by now, of course, but she gulped it down anyway. David the guinea pig’s wheel still squeaked as he raced on resolutely. Abigail pitied his lack of progress, in spite of the constant effort.

Her biceps throbbed with fatigue as she flopped onto her bed, not even bothering to get under the covers. She rolled over and stared at the dresser. Her sword lay beneath several sweaters and dresses that hardly ever saw the light of day. A sword that had made quick work of at least ten monsters. Abigail’s eyes began to droop closed, but her mouth tugged up into a tired smile. She had killed monsters! And this was only the beginning.

Abigail’s face relaxed as she finally fell asleep, dreaming of slimes and snow.


	4. Maru

Winter had stolen into Stardew Valley on socked feet, draping a thick blanket of cold over everything. Cindersap Forest was a prickle of barren branches. The mountains looked like soft serve ice cream. Villagers in Pelican Town rose from their slumbers to light fireplaces and look out their frost encrusted windows at the new world of white and grey and blue. Willy stood on the dock outside his fish shop and looked over the Gem Sea, true to its name as it glittered with shards of ice floating atop the waves. On CiderCakes Farm, Gilly covered her ears with snug earmuffs before marching through the empty fields towards her barns.

Maru awoke to a bright, cold morning. The silver stars on the wall blazed as light coming through her window reflected off them. Maru shut her eyes, but the remnants continued to glow at her like sunbursts. _Phosphenes_ , she thought. _The product of physical pressure on the retina after intense stimulation, causing light to be projected on the inside of one’s eyelids._ Imagining them as red giants or white dwarfs was far more pleasant though. Entire galaxies behind her eyes, she mused.

She spent a couple extra minutes lying beneath the fluffy comforter, watching the phosphenes fade to black and listening to the rest of her family come to life. The brisk clacking had to belong to her mother, who jumped right into her work boots as soon as she was awake. The softer thuds belonged to her father. He preferred to keep his outdoor and indoor footwear separate. The footsteps receded, and Maru remembered agreeing to help him in the laboratory. She sighed, opened her eyes and pulled herself out of the bed. Sebastian had no footsteps. He wouldn’t be leaving his room for at least another hour.

Demetrius was in a chipper mood, humming tunelessly as he set out petri dishes and labels. He waved heartily at Maru when she entered the lab.

“Goooood morning! I collected these samples from CiderCakes earlier, each one being the compost produced by a different mushroom. Let’s test for acidity, as well as nitrogen levels.”

Maru nodded and put on her lab gear. While she waited for her father to finish setting up, she happened to glance at herself in the reflection of a cabinet. The first time she had donned the coat and goggles, Demetrius had almost teared up at how professional she looked. Right now, Maru simply felt like a kid playing dress up. She walked over to the counter and began dripping distilled water onto samples. She had been doing litmus tests since she was a preteen. This might be the type of research that fascinated her father, but certainly not herself.

His voice interrupted her thoughts, as usual. “Just imagine, Maru. With this information, we may be able to formulate a more effective fertiliser for crops, or create environmentally friendly construction devices. It’s helping nature through nature! Small things like this can cause big changes. Sometimes it might feel that it’s just the two of us discovering these secrets of the biological world, but when we are able to relate them to practical matters, the results spread like a virus and affect the whole community.”

Maru wasn’t sure about such an analogy, but she knew not to disagree. “Yup. It’s great, dad.”

Demetrius turned and smiled sadly at her. “I know that you’re probably sick of hearing me say this, but I’m just trying to show you what such work can do. There are so many options out there. I really hope you can find your perfect calling.”

Maru saw genuine concern written on his face and instantly felt ashamed of herself. “I appreciate it. Really. You’ve taught me so much.”

Demetrius puffed up like a hen at her words. “And you’ve taught me too, by being such a model student! Now, let’s move onto the molecular breakdown.”

The hours stretched on. Maru really didn’t mind it all that much, but her thoughts began to stray to the events of the night before. It had been super weird to encounter Abigail in the mines. Maru couldn’t help but feel intimidated. She recalled the fierce, wild look in Abigail’s eyes. And that sword! How had Abigail gotten her hands on such a weapon? Maru tidied up the microscope slides. For some reason, it didn’t really surprise her. Maru thought about Abigail throughout the years of their shared childhood in the valley. No matter what happened, Abigail always commanded attention. Not intentionally. She just had this… effortless cool, a nonchalant confidence, the way she carried herself. She was someone who knew who she was and what she wanted. At least, that’s how Maru saw Abigail. She slowly filed away the notes on the soil samples. At least, that’s why Maru was intimidated by her.

Demetrius stretched and yawned. He took no notice of his daughter’s quietness. “Well! That’s an excellent way to spend a winter day. Such progress!”

Maru looked up at the clock. “Oh! I promised Penny I’d meet her in town.”

“Alright,” Demetrius said. He paused before hanging up his goggles. “Don’t stay out too late. I felt like you cut it rather close last night.”

Maru averted her eyes and nodded. “Yeah. Sorry.”

“I’m all for your personal exploration, but those caves can get dangerous. Most of the local lore is merely historical hokum, but I do believe that the deeper you go, the more dangerous it becomes. Watch your timing and bring enough supplies.”

“Don’t worry, dad. I always have a good supply of food and cherry bombs.”

“Good girl.” Demetrius strode out of the lab, satisfied. Then, he poked his head back in. “But if you do go back anytime soon, could you find some quality copper? We'll need to fashion a proper conduit for the next test.”

“Sure, dad.” Maru bid goodbye and rushed into the corridor. She almost collided with Sebastian, who had finally arisen from the depths of his underground lair to attack the kitchen fridge at the fresh-faced hour of 3:00 PM. They both recoiled from the accidental touch with mumbled apologies on Maru’s end and strangled silence from Sebastian. Maru was still shaking off her nerves when she hustled down the mountain towards the town square.

Arriving late to a meetup with Penny was never a problem. Her friend was already perched on their favourite bench, but her nose was stuck in a hefty paperback from the library. Maru even had to wait a few seconds after sitting down as Penny’s eyes darted across the pages, finishing the last sentences of the chapter before finally closing it.

Maru nodded at it. “New one?”

“Yeah. It’s about an ancient and hyper-intelligent alien, the last of his kind, who travels across all of space in a box intervening at important points in history for civilisations all over the universe to preserve fixed points in time.” Penny replaced her finger between the paper with a bookmark. “And he brings a different human companion along with him on every adventure.”

Maru leaned back on the bench. “If only space travel really was that easy.”

Penny copied her movements, stretching out her legs and tilting her head back to look into the pale blue winter sky. “And if only humans really could go back and forwards in time.”

They sat there for a few moments, consumed by their thoughts. Their friendship was an easy one to trace. From being the two kids lingering the longest in the library, the two answering the most questions in class, the two who spent their free moments mentally flying through space and time, it made sense that Maru and Penny still met up just to sit in silence together. You didn’t need to talk to cherish your time with someone, Maru felt.

But of course, they did actually talk. Usually it was Penny who had a few more stories, whether they were from the books she read or antics performed by her students. Maru wished she had more to contribute, but there wasn’t much of a conversation in mushroom compost. This day however, she found herself describing the unfortunate family dinner from the night before.

Penny’s brow creased. “…I don’t get it. University sounds amazing. Why don’t you want to go? Your dad’s right. There’s so much more to learn, and new things to experience.”

Maru shrugged. It was so hard to put the twisting feeling in her stomach to words. “I know. But it’s just…I don’t want to go only because my dad says I should.”

Penny sniffed and looked down at the ground. “I just know that if I had the chance to go somewhere else, I’d definitely try it. My whole life has been in this valley. All the places I can visit are only found in stories.”

Maru blushed. How could she be so insensitive? Of course Penny would want to get out of Pelican Town. Whining about the multiple universities she had a chance at was like rubbing vinegar into a deep scrape. Penny was more than arguably the most well read person in town (yes, even more than that airhead Elliott) and had a passion for education. Maru knew and fully believed that the circumstances life had tossed at Penny had been incredibly unfair so far. She had to be a better friend than this.

“It’s just kind of overwhelming,” she said quickly. “The pressure makes it hard to choose.”

Penny gave her a small smile. “Well, I can understand that. I’m sure wherever you end up will be a great school, though.”

Maru still felt terrible when they parted ways. Penny picked up her book and somberly made her way back to her trailer. Maru knew she’d be spending most of the evening cleaning up after her mother. Penny was a dutiful daughter, no matter what. It made Maru feel like making it up to her own parents too. The sun was only just beginning to set as she approached 24 Mountain Road. Her backpack was still sitting where she had left it outside next to her telescope. The least she could do was get the copper for her father. Maru checked the pack for supplies, then headed off to the mines.

She took the elevator down to level 10. Since she was looking for ores this time, lower was better. For all her familiarity, Maru had only been exploring the mines for the past two seasons. She still hadn’t made any progress beyond level 20. Demetrius had been extremely wary of allowing her down in the first place, much less by herself. He had finally relented upon her graduation from Stardew Valley High. The elevator doors creaked open. Maru stepped out and looked around. If there weren’t many ores here, she’d just use a cherry bomb to blast the stones around her, and hopefully a way down would appear.

To her surprise, there were already two ladders before her. Maru approached them, frowning. How did that happen? Sometimes they were already uncovered when she arrived at a level, but never more than one, and not often so close to one another. She crouched down and examined the ground. There was a slimy residue along the rim. Maru could only deduce that some of the small monsters had gotten into a fight and their efforts had created the holes. Maybe it was just a lucky day.

Maru descended to the next level. Even before both her feet touched the ground, she heard a loud droning noise. _Cave flies!_  Maru quickly pulled open her backpack, fumbling for her pickaxe. She didn't really fight, so her best hope was to find the next ladder as quickly as possible. Those horrible bugs would chase you, buzzing nonstop with their awful waxy wings and pale squishy bodies…Maru hated the flies.

“LOOK OUT!”

Maru yelped and dove to her knees, still clutching the backpack to her chest. She squeezed her eyes shut and felt the heart-stopping sensation of something rushing by her ear, just before a truly disgusting _SHLURK_ exploded in the air - and all over her hair. Maru reached up and touched her head. Sticky bits of bug meat came away on her fingers. Maru scrambled to her feet, shaking off the icky feeling.

Abigail stood before her, panting. The sword shook slightly in her hands. Maru was shocked. It wan't just, you know, actually seeing her again, but also to see her in such a state: long purple hair disheveled, face glistening with sweat, chest heaving in and out, and arms covered with bruises, grime, and small cuts.

“I…um…thanks,” Maru said.

Abigail blinked at her uncertainly for a few moments, then seemed to recover her thoughts. “Oh. Yeah. No probs.”

They scuttled away from one another at the same time, as if they shared the same embarrassment of being caught off guard again. Maru heard the sword slash through the underground weeds behind her. She quickly thrust her pickaxe into the piles of stone. Abigail again. It had happened all so quickly, Maru hadn’t any time to get nervous. Abigail seemed to be pretty good with that sword. But she also seemed like she had been down here for a long time, perhaps since the morning even. Maru’s stomach twisted as her father’s warnings echoed through her mind. Abigail didn’t seem to have any supplies on her. How long had she lasted? Was she doing okay?

Her questions were cut off once again by the dreaded buzzing of the cave flies. Maru tensed up, holding her pickaxe steady. It was no weapon, but it would do in a pinch. To her surprise, the bugs zoomed right past her. Maru's head turned to follow them just in time to see Abigail swinging her sword several yards away. Her eyes were set with that fierce glare. She even seemed to glow with a red aura. Maru caught her breath as Abigail gritted her teeth and slashed hard again, but the blade missed. The flies bounced away but didn’t lose momentum, curving around on a beeline back to their assailant.

 _Get them!_ Maru silently begged. Abigail stepped back to prepare another swing, but her foot slipped on a loose stone. The sword clattered heavily to the ground, and - Maru saw it for sure now, Abigail WAS glowing red - the flies attacked all together, spinning in erratic, rapid circles. Maru watched in horror as they dived down at Abigail over and over again. The girl crawled along slowly, ignoring the the mandibles clacking and their fat fleshy bodies that swarmed her, feebly reaching for her sword. Her fingers flinched once, twice, then Abigail went completely limp.

The cave echoed with buzzing, louder and louder in the cavern as the monsters exulted over their victory. The sound filled Maru's head, emptying it of thought as she snatched up her backpack and charged into the fray.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Doctor Who belongs to BBC, of course. 
> 
> Please do not judge me on the science - I only did minimal fact checking and haven’t taken a chem class in literally 10 years.


	5. Abigail

“Abigail. Abigail!”

Abigail did not want to open her eyes. It was already hard to stay conscious here in the darkness. Her head pounded and her limbs stung in countless places. She could hardly tell arm from leg apart. Something brushed against her cheek and the memory of soft - yet scaly - bodies pressing against her came rushing back.

She bolted up with a yell. Maru yelled too, and stumbled away from her. The kid had been on her knees, leaning over Abigail. A fat roll of gauze dropped from her hands and trailed away from them across the dirt floor. Abigail carefully lifted her throbbing head and saw the entrance of the mines just a few metres away. She could clearly see the thick bank of snow that lay outside. All was silent and all was still. Not like what she remembered.

“What…happened?” Abigail tried to look down and take stock of herself. The world swooned. She felt Maru grab her shoulders before the rocks came rushing up towards her. Abigail couldn’t even protest, the pain screamed so loudly in her skull. Somehow, Maru’s voice was able to cut through.

“You were swarmed by the cave flies! At least five of them. You don’t have much health left. You need to eat something.”

_Like what?_ Abigail managed to think. Something pushed against her lips. Abigail opened her mouth to tell Maru to knock it off and almost choked. Whatever it was, it was gummy and gross and tasted incredibly tart. Some she swallowed on instinct, but the rest she spit out, shaking and sputtering.

“Cranberries?” Abigail made a face. “What am I supposed to do with this?”

Maru looked at her incredulously. “…Eat them? Like I just said?”

Well, Abigail had already done so, albeit slightly against her will. But the effect was instantaneous. The pain ebbed away and was replaced by a great sense of fatigue instead. Abigail felt the hostility leak out of her like a deflating balloon. “Oh. Sorry, I just…automatically say stuff like that.”

“It's alright. I have instant reactions to items I dislike too.” Maru settled into a cross legged position. She had to tilt her head up a little to look at Abigail, but her back was straight, elbows resting gently on her knees. She seemed perfectly calm and collected. “You should really come here with supplies. You’re pretty handy with that sword, but it’s not going to be enough against the monsters.”

Abigail gazed down at her body. Her bare arms seemed to glow almost unnaturally pale in the torchlight. They were covered with cuts and bruises that looked like angry dark stains. Maru had bandaged the most prominent wounds. Abigail poked one of them experimentally. It squished a little. “What-?”

Maru held up a bottle. “Energy tonic. I have an employee’s discount at the clinic. This is the first time I’ve needed to use it outside of there, though. Technically it’s supposed to be consumed, but you were out completely cold and Dr. Harvey did mention a possible external application.”

“Uh, sure.” Abigail continued to inspect herself. Apart from the slowly healing injuries, she seemed to be fine. There was some gross bug gunk all over her tunic. The faded blanket was still tucked into her belt. Abigail looked round and spotted her sword lying on the ground a foot away. It looked pristine. Abigail tried to reach for it, but her arms felt like lead. She heard the zippy sound of canvas. Abigail centred her weight slowly and pulled Maru's backpack out from behind her.

“Oh, sorry.” Maru took it back. She had been using it to prop Abigail up. Abigail saw the head of a steel pickaxe sticking out of the opening. What was it Maru had said? Supplies. Sebastian’s kid sister being a total girl scout was of no surprise to Abigail, but in her vulnerable state she couldn’t help wondering what was inside.

She voiced this query out loud. Maru looked surprised, but also a little pleased. She pulled on the drawstring and held the opening towards Abigail.

“Well, I’m only here for the materials, so I need the pickaxe. And to keep my health and energy up, I bring some food. I wouldn’t normally have picked cranberries either, but they were a recent crop and we had extra around the house. The energy tonic was just an emergency backup.” Maru paused. “Don’t worry about it though. I’m glad it was useful.”

Abigail was starting to regain the feeling in her legs. She dragged her knees up. “Yeah. Me too. How did you get rid of the bugs?”

Maru dug into her backpack and pulled out a cloth pouch. “Cherry bombs. There’s raw copper in the shell, which ignites once coal tinder is struck. As long as it’s kept padded, it’s safe to carry around. But if you strike at the right pressure, you get a decently sized explosion.”

Abigail stared at the little red lumps. “Wow. That’s pretty neat.” She frowned. “So you threw bombs at me?”

For the first time since Abigail had come to, Maru looked nervous. She froze, her fingers squeezing the pouch ever so slightly. “Um. Well. You were already… I just wanted to get rid of the flies…”

“I’m not mad. It’s okay. If you killed those bugs, that’s badass.” Abigail tested her weight on one foot. An expression of surprise flashed across Maru’s face at the compliment, but she recovered quickly, offering an arm. Slowly, they moved from a crouching position to a shaky standing one. At least she wasn’t dead, Abigail reflected. But she definitely wasn’t in very good shape either.

“What time is it?”

Maru glanced at her wrist. She was wearing one of those chunky plastic digital watches with multiple buttons. Abigail bet it probably glowed in the dark, too. “Almost eight.”

“Crap.” Abigail took a tentative step. She grabbed Maru’s shoulder before she fell. Maru didn’t seem to mind though, standing her ground. Holding onto each other, the girls carefully worked their way to the mine entrance. Abigail sighed as she looked at the snow covered ground. It had to be at least four inches deep. Getting home in this state was not going to be fun at all.

"Here." Suddenly, Maru stuck her hand around Abigail’s waist and held out the other for the sword. Abigail’s emotions felt very distant as she passed her weapon over. It was a singularly strange picture: Maru, in her thick woolen sweater and denim overalls, that huge yellow backpack over her shoulders, beanie on top of the maroon hair, enormous glasses, and the hilt of a broadsword in her hand. It measured just above her waist. Maru made no indication of this being weird at all. She grasped Abigail’s waist and helped her shift weight off her injured leg.

It was tedious work, breaking a path through the snow together. There wasn’t any room for conversation. Abigail had to concentrate quite a bit. Maru held her steady every time the icy drifts threatened to send her sprawling. The wind dragged its long fingers through her hair, whipping it around her face and obscuring her vision. Abigail plodded on anyway. She was almost relieved that Maru had taken the sword.

They continued in this fashion around the lake until Maru broke the silence. “Um, this is me.”

24 Mountain Road loomed large and quiet. Maru pointed towards a small door off to the side, behind a wooden fence. “My room’s right there. Will you be okay?”

The girls separated. Abigail did her best to stand as straight as possible. The sword back in her hand felt more like a shield, or a crutch. Maru stood across from her, the edges of her glasses glinting a bit in the lights from the windows.

“Thanks for all of…that,” Abigail said.

Maru shrugged, looking a bit embarrassed. “You’re welcome.”

Abigail looked at the sword. It already felt too heavy in her hands, and there was still the trek down the hill back home. She held it out. “Hey. I know you did a lot for me already, but a favour? Whatever the monsters did to me I can survive, but I’ll be dead if I bring this home. Can I just stick this like, under your telescope or something?”

Maru stared at the iron blade. She slowly reached over and took it. “Oh. Okay. Sure.”

“And…” Abigail sighed inwardly. Well, the kid had already saved her butt. There wasn't any pride left to prevent her from asking. “Do you want to… go down there together, next time? Safety in numbers, or something like that. I’ll try to get the monsters before you need to chuck bombs at them. We can help each other out.”

Maru blinked at her. Abigail felt foolish. She remembered Maru during their school days, always sandwiched between teachers and bustling about being such a model youth. Abigail had never, in her life, been considered a model anything. She remembered Sebastian sitting on the couch at the Stardrop Saloon’s lounge, picking furiously at a loose thread and rambling a long rant about his family. Maru certainly never seemed to need a partner. She had more than proved that she could do anything by herself.

“Okay.”

It was Abigail’s turn to blink. Maru leaned the sword against the fence and held out her hand. The girls shook on it, their cold fingers in a tight squeeze.

“I can’t do tomorrow though,” Maru said. “I work at the clinic Tuesdays and Thursdays.”

“That’s cool. Wednesday, then?”

“Sure.” Maru picked up the sword very carefully again and started walking towards her door. “And I won’t leave this out in the snow. I doubt that’s any good. If you need it, knock on my door and see if I’m in.”

“Great.” Abigail raised her hand in an awkward half-wave as Maru disappeared into her house.

The rest of the trek home was uneventful. Abigail plodded along through the snow. She didn’t mind the cold, but every time a wet clump of snow made contact with her skin, the cuts and hurts stung like crazy. How was she going to explain them to her parents? Abigail grimaced as she trotted down the stone steps leading away from the dilapidated Community Centre. Her mother would throw an absolute fit. Her father…

Abigail was so caught up in her thoughts that she didn't take note of what - or WHO was in the store as she entered. She froze, still with one hand against the open glass door. Her father poked his head out from between the shelves.

“Ah, Abigail. Abigail?!” He hurried over, a few boxes of fertiliser still in his hands. Pierre gaped, horrified, at her. “What in Yoba’s good name happened? You’re covered in bruises!”

“I was just…”

“Was just what?” Pierre fumbled with the fertiliser. One of them dropped to the floor, landing on a corner and gaining a magnificent dent. Thankfully, Pierre was far too distracted to notice. He grabbed one of Abigail’s arms, the one with all the bandages. “Where were you?”

“I was just up on the mountain,” she said, tugging her arm away. It was no use, however. He held fast.

“The mountain’s no place for a young lady,” Pierre said sternly. “You should have come home much earlier. Missing dinner two days in a row - to go gallivanting around the wilderness? Look at you, you could have been -”

She mustered up her energy and yanked her arm away as hard as she could. Pierre gasped as Abigail fell backwards right into a produce crate. The contents went crashing down. Abigail let out a hiss of pain as crops bumped heavily against her. She was a heap on the floor.

“Abigail!” Pierre knelt down. He grabbed a few apples rolling away along the floorboards. It figured, Abigail thought woozily. Save the stock, not your own daughter.

Instead, he nudged one into her hands. “See, that’s what you get for skipping meals and running yourself ragged outside. When you’re low on energy, you need to eat something.”

He waited until she took a bite before tidying up. Abigail chewed in silence as he collected up the rest of the fruit. Pierre clucked and shook his head over the bruises that had formed on some of them after ] hitting the ground.

“I can’t sell this. Here,” He plucked a paper bag from its holder and dropped the apples in. “Now you have a supply of food for going out. Really, Abigail. We shouldn’t have to tell you these things. You’re supposed to be an adult now.”

If this had been her mother nagging, Abigail would already have exploded from rage. Instead, she dumbly allowed her father to help her up from the floor, dust off her shoulders and place the bag of apples into her arms. “Where’s mom?”

Pierre arched his eyebrows over his glasses at her. “She’s already in bed. If you need it, there’s leftover pizza in the kitchen. She didn’t feel like cooking today, so we got takeout from the Saloon.”

There was a paused as they both imagined Caroline’s reaction to Abigail’s wounds in the morning.

Pierre sighed. “I won’t tell her.”

“Really?”

He pointed to the bag. “As long as you promise me to take better care of yourself, I also promise not to mention this night ever again.”

Abigail nodded. She would take it. Pierre stepped back, regarding her, as if he was second guessing his own judgment in allowing her such independence. Then, he shrugged and started picking up the fertiliser boxes. He held up the dented one and frowned.

“Everything doing okay, dad?”

Pierre’s face relaxed into a sombre expression. “Yes, Abby. It’s just winter. Since seeds don’t grow this time of year, there isn’t much of a need for people to buy farming materials. That’s just what it is. Not that leech Morris and his soulless company…”

Abigail clutched the apples and watched her father retreat into the shelves. There were some shuffling noises.

“I can’t match those prices. I’d be selling at a loss,” she heard him say quietly.

Abigail rifled through her paper bag and found the least bruised apple. She approached her father, who was staring at the speed-gro, and offered it to him.

“Thanks, Abby. I like this.” Pierre’s smile was tired and sad. Abigail said goodnight and tiptoed into the hallway. She nabbed a cold slice of pizza and stole it back to her room. Her computer was switched off, and her gaming console lay dormant on the floor. But she didn’t need any more excitement today, Abigail decided as she sank her teeth into the chewy cheese.

There would be more on Wednesday. Abigail couldn’t wait.


	6. Maru

Maru had no idea what to expect on Wednesday afternoon. When she walked into the mines, Abigail was already waiting for her by the elevator door. They exchanged awkward greetings and Maru handed over the sword. It had lain on the floor at the end of her bed for the first night. By the time it was morning, she had gotten paranoid that her father would walk in and completely flip on seeing a literal weapon sitting in her room, so Maru had quickly stashed it in a much safer, more secret place. She understood completely why Abigail wouldn’t want her parents seeing it.

Abigail seemed to relax once it was back in her hands. She stepped away from Maru and swung it through the air as if checking whether it still worked. Maru watched the grey blade rise and dip in graceful arcs, all from a flick of Abigail’s wrist. It was mesmerising. Maru did not have any desire to wield a sword of her own, but for the single day it had been in her possession, even when well hidden, she had walked around with a peculiar feeling of power. Sitting behind the counter at the clinic, Maru had reorganised the pharmacy. The slashes of red ink that marked bottles as expired reminded her of monsters bursting into a splash of slime. When Penny had read a chapter of her borrowed fantasy novel to her at their regular bench meeting, Maru could vividly picture the Last Centurion’s thrusts and parries with his gladius, even though it was no broadsword. Penny had asked if she was feeling alright upon seeing Maru’s eyes glazed over. Now, she shook her head clear.

“Are you ready?” she asked when the sword stopped moving. Abigail looked over at her. She had, of course, paused in the most inadvertently awesome pose: sword erect with both hands around the hilt, knees bent in a ready stance, and her purple hair cascading over one shoulder.

“Yeah, whenever you are.” Abigail straightened and tossed her hair back again. She had tied a small green ribbon at one side, and its tails turned up perkily. Abigail walked over and punched in the elevator button. “Which level?”

The door creaked open and they walked in, Maru first then Abigail. The interior panel did not have many buttons. “Floor ten, I guess.”

They stood in silence as the elevator descended. It was a very small box, but the two of them flattened their backs against the shuddering wood and tried to avoid each other’s gaze. Maru didn’t fee all that uncomfortable around Abigail anymore, considering what had happened. But it didn’t make them instant soul sisters. She was relieved when they finally stopped and squeezed out into the cavern.

The rest of the day was wholly uneventful. Maru got to work at excavating the rock. Abigail wandered around the cavern, sword held ready. The first few times Maru heard the squishy noises of monsters coming their way, she braced herself, but they never even came close. Abigail would appear and serve swift justice. Several times the buzz of bugs echoed in the distance, but all Maru had to do was wince when their sharp screeches were cut, literally, short.

Every time Maru found a ladder, she would wave at Abigail, who nodded and followed her. It was a weird, silent partnership. Abigail seemed fine with it though, so Maru swallowed her own questions. She finally spoke up at level fifteen. “It’s past six,” she said to Abigail.

The other girl blinked, surprised, and peered down at Maru’s watch. Maru held down the button that made the screen light up so the numbers stood out more. “Oh, huh. That felt fast.”

“Yeah,” Maru said as they clambered into the lift. There was a new button for their new achievement. “Five floors isn’t bad though, right?”

“Yeah!” Abigail seemed filled with a restlessness, bouncing a little on the balls of her feet. Maru instinctively reached for a railing as their elevator box wobbled, but there was none to hold. “Maybe next time we can reach 20.”

The elevator let off a flat _ping_ as they emerged back into the entrance level. “Yeah, definitely.”

Abigail balanced the tip of her sword on the ground and twirled the hilt. Another nonchalant, unplanned pose. “You work tomorrow, right? So Friday.”

“Yup.” They left the mines together, Abigail stopping by 24 Mountain Road to drop off her sword before hurrying down the mountain. Maru carefully put it in its hiding place and fiddled with her radio satellite for the rest of the evening. The solar panels were proving a bit tricky.

Friday came on hasty feet. Maru and Abigail met, descended, mined and fought, flying through the levels. Bugs were no match for them now. Maru realised she wasn’t even tensing up anymore when she heard their buzzing, just making sure she was out of Abigail’s way. It was nice not to have to waste her cherry bombs. Maru only used one of them, when she was absolutely fed up with finding nothing but stone. She and Abigail hung back as the fuse fizzled and popped, then - _POW_ \- Maru squeezed her eyes shut at the explosion, but she heard Abigail say, “Whoa, awesome!”

She even helped Maru collect the ores before going down the ladder after her. Maru heard the familiar sound of the elevator. Level 20, and it wasn’t even 4:00! Her mother still had the shop open. She stepped off the ladder and looked around, blinking. There weren’t any rocks. She heard the trickle of water and looked round to the left. To her surprise, a decently sized lake made up half of the cavern, with leafy vines climbing the walls in abundance. Maru walked along the narrow promontory reaching out into the water and peered into it. She caught a glimpse of something bone-pale gliding by in the murky depths. Could you really go fishing underground? What kind of specimens would you find? Maru was reminded of her father’s tendency to hunker down beside the lake to wait for rare types of fish. Did he know there were some here?

Behind her, something made a loud creaking noise. Maru turned. Abigail had ignored the lake. Instead, she was standing in front of a wooden chest that was sitting in the middle of the cave with its lid swung open. Abigail reached inside and held aloft a small, short dagger - a steel smallsword. Maru watched as she tested out her new weapon. Abigail jabbed the air with swift, brief thrusts, looking mightily pleased. She tucked it into her belt, patted it as Maru walked over, and smiled when congratulated on her new treasure.

“This place is turning out to be way more exciting than I thought it would be,” she told Maru as they went to the ladder in the corner. “And that’s saying a lot, since I really wanted to come.”

“Really? Why?”

Abigail waited until Maru stepped off the ladder on Level 21. “Oh…just…life in the valley. I’ve been here all my life, but I feel like I’ve done practically nothing. Everyone who comes here talks about how relaxing it is, or peaceful, or how you can let time stretch on and not worry about anything. Like, that’s great and all. But I…don’t want to spend my whole life relaxing. I don’t want to get in line and follow a schedule day in and day out so people will know exactly where to find me on at any given time. Pelican Town’s my home, but sometimes you just want to get away, right?”

When she said this, Abigail’s face darkened a little, but then she quickly recovered. “So long story short…I was bored! Anyway, how about you? What are you collecting?”

Maru shrugged. “Uh, nothing that interesting. Just materials for experiments and projects. I’m trying to build a radio satellite, for example, so all this copper will be useful.”

“What? That’s way interesting!” Abigail walked beside her, actually paying attention as Maru struck at another node. “What about all the other stuff you pick up though?”

“Well, you always end up mining a lot of stone down here. Usually I discard them, but sometimes I keep some for my mom to use at her work. But you’re right, I also collect minerals. They have a lot of scientific uses. Earth crystals are used in basic crafting structures, and quartz is an important component of many machines once refined.” Maru held out a piece and placed it in Abigail’s hand.

Abigail held up the dusty, opaque gem to the torchlight. “Huh. Never thought of these that way.”

They looked at it together for a few seconds until they heard the familiar squelching of slimes. Abigail pulled out her sword and Maru turned to her mining. Conversation over.

They made it to Level 25 just before 6:00. Maru thought it had been a truly lucky day. Abigail was happy too, turning her new smallsword over in her hand and running her thumb along the edge. Maru watched warily as they walked along the mountain path by the lake. Their boots crunched in the snow.

“Tomorrow?” Abigail asked. “Or Sunday?”

“Maybe not Sunday. Family dinner.” Maru sighed a little, thinking of last week’s debacle. “At least, family dinner has been planned.”

Abigail looked a little disappointed, but didn’t argue. “Okay.”

“But Saturdays are good!” Maru added quickly. She didn’t want her to think that she was reneging on the deal. Not having to worry about the monsters was a lot better. And…it was just kind of fun. Tunnelling along under the earth alone was almost a morbid experience, but not so much if there was someone else down there with you.

Abigail grinned. “Awesome.”

They rounded the bend that took them away from the lakeside and on Mountain Road. As they arrived at the Carpenter’s Shop, Maru saw the garage door open. Sebastian’s motorcycle was in full view, the blue chrome gleaming in the setting sunlight. A pair of grubby black jeans protruded from beneath it. Soon two pale arms joined them, pushing against the ground to slide the rest of Sebastian from under his beloved bike.

He looked up, grease streaking his cheeks, and his jaw dropped upon seeing Maru and Abigail standing side by side.

“Hey, Seb,” Abigail said.

It was a cheerful and casual greeting. Sebastian stared at her, then Maru. Then he quickly scrambled to his feet.

“Uh, hey,” he said to Abigail. Maru squirmed under his long side glance. “Why aren’t you at the Saloon? It’s Friday.”

“I could ask you the same thing,” Abigail replied. She pushed her hair out of her eyes. Maru watched Sebastian’s gaze trail her fingertips going through the long purple locks. “Sam’s going to be pissed that we left him hanging all alone. If you’re finished up, let’s go together.”

“Uh…okay,” Sebastian said weakly. He kicked his mechanic’s wheel board to the side, grabbing a rag to wipe up. Maru felt his eyes on them as Abigail handed over her weapons, the new one included. “Hey, what the hell?”

Thankfully, Abigail spoke first. “None of your business! Maru’s doing me a favour. And don’t bother asking, because we won’t tell.”

Sebastian was openly frowning now. Abigail began walking towards the slope down towards Pelican Town, gesturing. “Come on, Sam’s not going to have his ass kicked at pool by himself.”

At this, Sebastian sighed, stepped out of the garage and yanked down the door. He gave her one last doubtful look before following Abigail, who was waiting for him at the edge of the fence. Once Sebastian caught up to her, she paused and turned around. “Bye, Maru!” she called, waving a hand.

“Oh! Bye…” Maru couldn’t do anything back as her hands were full of weaponry. She watched Abigail and her brother walk away. So now someone knew, sort of, about their secret. Thank Yoba that her parents were also away at the Saloon and wouldn’t catch her holding a pair of swords herself.

She went inside, deposited them in her special safe place, then sat down on the floor to examine and organise her newly acquired goods. It would be a nice, relaxing activity to perform alone in her cosy home. For the next half hour, she tried to focus upon the task in front of her, but kept on looking back at where she had hidden the swords. What if it hadn’t been Sebastian who saw them emerging from the mines with an array of stone and sharp, shiny blades, but her mother? Or even - her father? Maru’s fingers slipped and the sharp edge of a split rock nicked against her palm. Maru frowned at the bead of blood that appeared on her skin. Well, that was the answer. He would have exploded with terror that Abigail was waving broadswords around his little Maru.

She instantly regretted thinking such things. It was natural to want to protect your kids and make sure they were on the right path. Maru sighed anyway, getting up to apply antiseptic cream and a bandage to her hand. As she dressed the wound in the lab, Maru’s thoughts drifted to Abigail. She seemed to be careful enough, save for that one time with the cave flies. But now with two swords? Maru looked at her palm and the big puffy bandage over it. The cut still stung. Abigail was going to need to have something covering her weapons.

The satellite could wait. Maru grabbed a piece of graph paper from a tray and marched back to her room to begin the research.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again, Doctor Who belongs to BBC.
> 
> Other stuff is piling up on me so updates will most likely slow down. I'll aim for once a week, but can't promise anything! Thank you for continuing to read my story. I do hope that your interests remain piqued and hearts are filled with them feels!


	7. Maru

“Hey, thanks!”

Abigail smiled and held out her hands for the sword. Maru gave it to her, then stepped back as Abigail began the process of unwrapping the old blanket from the blade. The recent action had seemed to rejuvenate the edges, which snagged and split the worn cotton fabric easily. Maru thought about the plans sitting in her room. It would be a nice side project, something new and interesting - but she was missing the appropriate materials. She had considered things like canvas or wood, but the former was too easily damaged and the latter too heavy. Oh well, there were other matters at hand.

“Do you think all the levels are like this?” Abigail asked her as they creaked into the earth on the old elevator.

“I wouldn’t know,” Maru admitted. “Before this, I had only gone to 20.”

“Bugs are getting kind of boring,” Abigail said. “I want to see more monsters.”

Maru shivered. New monsters might be too dangerous. She was glad there was an extra omelette in her backpack, courtesy of Sebastian’s refusal to eat some for breakfast this morning. He had sniffed at the skillet, made a face, then turned to walk back to his bedroom - but not before stopping in his tracks to stare at Maru. Ever since he had caught her and Abigail together coming down the mountain, things had changed between them. Maru wasn’t enjoying it though. He still wouldn’t speak to her, but whenever she turned around he was always shooting daggers at her with scrutinising eyes.

Dinner wasn’t going to be fun tomorrow.

Level 25 was still more of the same. Abigail’s words rang true - this was getting a little boring. They breezed through the next four stages easily. Maru even saw Abigail ignoring some of the smaller monsters until they got too close, only swiping at them when they managed to slime her. It was hardly noon when they hit 30. Maru looked round. There was literally nothing in this cave but the elevator and a ladder already waiting in the corner. She looked up at Abigail, who was frowning at a small cut on her knee. “Want to take a quick break first?”

“Sure, why not.” Abigail plopped down onto the floor, carefully laying her sword down. She pulled out an apple from a pocket somewhere and chomped into it. “How’d you know I was hungry?”

Maru sat down across from her and opened up her lunch box. “It’s around lunchtime. I figured a pit stop would be good.”

Abigail nodded, stretching out her legs and chewing. She seemed to grow a little as she ate, almost brightening with each bite until she looked refreshed and robust. Maru couldn’t see herself, but she did feel the aches slip from her muscles, replaced by a surge of energy as she nibbled her omelette.

“What do you do at the clinic?” Abigail asked suddenly.

Maru almost stabbed herself with her fork. “Oh, uh. The pharmacy, basically. I fill out Dr. Harvey’s prescriptions and keep things organised. Doctors are surprisingly scatterbrained.”

Abigail grinned. “Nah, I’m not surprised. He’s my next door neighbour, after all. I’ve seen him wandering around the town. Once by the river near Sam’s place. He almost fell in because he was looking up instead of in front of him. Funny guy.”

Maru laughed. “He’s got this obsession with planes. There was probably one overhead.”

“That makes way more sense!” Abigail tossed her apple core at the ladder hole, but missed. “Hey, what about your satellite? Is it spaceworthy yet?”

“It’s going okay.” Maru had put away the food and was rubbing her palms with cream. She already had a few callouses from general work on her machines, but clutching the pickaxe in one position all morning was different. “It'll be a time before I launch it. I'm in no hurry. I’ve got…other projects in mind too.”

“Cool.” Abigail had retrieved her apple core. “I guess I’ll leave this for the bugs.” She threw it into a far corner of the cave. “Level 31, let’s go!”

They descended. Maru first, then Abigail. Maru’s breath caught in her throat when she was abruptly plunged into darkness. Much darker than before. Almost black. She tasted the stale, almost metallic air around her and knew this was a wholly different world from the verdant caves above. Maru only remembered at the last moment that Abigail was coming down too and shuffled over. She almost hit her head on bumpy stone. The walls were stone. The floor was stone. It was all stone, and it was completely dark. Maru felt like they had been sucked down a black hole. And technically, it WAS a black hole. Just in the ground, not outer space.

“Whoah!” Abigail’s voice echoed as she found her footing on the ground. “Maru?”

“I’m here.” Maru rummaged through her backpack in the darkness. Was this the pickaxe? She hoped it was.

There was a sudden flare of light. Maru blinked at Abigail, who now glowed strangely pale before her. Abigail lifted her hand, and Maru saw the source: a small yellow ring on her index finger, shining brightly like a blessing from Yoba itself.

“Got it from one of the slimes,” Abigail explained. “Like two levels ago. It’s called a glow ring, I think?”

And glow it did. The light didn’t extend very far, so Maru stayed close to Abigail as they felt their way through the tunnel. There weren’t as many stones as before, so they could actually walk along freely. Maru mined a little bit as they went by, hoping for another ladder, but none yielded. This made sense, as it was unlikely for her to find it right away. Abigail didn’t act like she was nervous, but Maru saw her biceps flex whenever they heard faint noises of any kind, shifting stones or small, indistinguishable sounds.

“Looks like there are lanterns up ahead,” she said to Maru quietly. The darkness clamped down with its stillness, cowing their voices into undertones. “You should get one in case…something happens.”

Maru swallowed. She didn’t want for them to get separated in this new environment. But yes, they had to stay realistic. She and Abigail walked towards the tiny flame in the distance, still tapping at certain stones and picking up the odd ore or gem. Maru slowly realised that they had entered a larger, open space dotted with stones. The ground beneath their boots was soft and gravelly. Without the safety of walls nearby, Maru felt small and vulnerable. Abigail’s light trembled a bit as she steadied her hand on her sword, glancing round warily. The lantern was on the far wall. Maru tried to get at stones before Abigail stumbled over them.

They were only a few metres away when Abigail stopped short, her muscles bulging as her knuckles tightened around her sword. “What was that?”

“What?” Maru was trying to dislodge her pickaxe from a particularly obstinate copper node. Her back was to Abigail when she heard the gasp. Maru looked over her shoulder and almost fell over from shock.

From the shadows came a misshapen, vaguely humanoid being standing over them on two legs. It had no features save for two little dots that looked like it was made of glowing green smoke. It lumbered towards them, its steps like stone scraping on stone. Abigail stared up at the hulking creature. Maru saw that its movements were slow and required much effort, as if it was very, very heavy.

“A golem!” She cried out to Abigail. “It’s a stone golem!”

Abigail grunted in reply and raised her sword. Maru winced at the sound of metal striking rock, over and over again. The golem lurched to the side from the attack. It made no attempt to fight back, but still bore down on her, those green eyes pulsing sickeningly. Abigail slashed stubbornly, making slow headway into the golem’s torso. Finally, it crumbled into rubble at her feet. Abigail, panting, wiped her cheek with her shoulder. She crouched down and picked something up from the golem’s remains.

“Hey!” She held up another piece of quartz, smiling back at Maru. She looked almost strangely ethereal, the glow framing her like planet rings and refracting in rays through the raw gem in the same hand.

Maru gave her a thumbs up, then remembered that Abigail probably couldn’t really see it. Before the girls could recuperate from their latest victory, the silence was broken by a scream. Maru almost jumped out of her sweater.

Abigail stood up, frowning. Then, at full speed, a bat came tearing out of the darkness squeaking furiously. Maru caught the brief wide-eyed expression of panic on Abigail’s face before it set into gritted determination. Abigail swung at the bat almost angrily.

“Maru! Get the lantern, then get us out of here!”

“Oh, right!” Maru hurried over to the wall. The lantern was an ancient, rusty cast iron kind of deal. But it still had a ring at the top, so Maru looped it onto her backpack’s drawstring. Now with a (lopsided) aura of light around herself, she set to hacking away at the stones around them, feverishly praying for a ladder. It seemed like the bat was able to call to its friends to continue haranguing Abigail, who was bravely fighting back. The cave echoed with the sound of dismayed screeches. Maru felt a pang of worry. She felt so useless down here. She needed the ladder fast.

Oh, duh. Maru plunged her hand into her backpack and pulled out a cherry bomb. “Abigail, watch out!”

She leaned back as the rocks around them exploded. Some of the bats were permanently silenced. Amongst the broken stone was a single ladder. “Found it!” Maru yelled. She clutched the top rung but didn’t descend until Abigail finally ran over. The girls hopped down, leaving the remaining monsters in the dark dust above.

The next level was similarly all stone, but at least there were more lanterns lit along the walls. And Maru now had one of her own. Abigail looked unscathed as she hopped down beside her. She held up a fistful of fuzz and leather. “Hey, look!”

Maru wrinkled her nose at the bat wings. “Ew.”

“It’s monster loot.” Abigail shoved some of them into her hands. “Like it or not, they’re rightfully yours for the bomb idea. Take 'em.”

Maru reluctantly slipped the bat wings into a pocket of her backpack. “So, now we know what these levels are going to be like. I hope they’re not for the rest of the mines…”

“Don’t worry, I don’t think they’ll last long. If it changes once, I bet it changes again,” Abigail said. She was sporting a few extra scratches now, but still looked lively. After all, she’d been granted her wish of new monsters. “It’s something different anyway, right?”

“Right,” Maru sighed. “Still, can we try to get through them as fast as possible?”

“Oh, yeah. I’m sure the real interesting monsters are way below.” Abigail held up her ringed hand. “This thing’s also plenty useful! Thank you, slime.”

It was her positive attitude that buoyed Maru through the next few levels. They quickly developed a system - Abigail leading with her sword to ward off any more golems that might lurk in the shadows, and Maru behind her, trying to find the ladder. If Abigail was engaged in combat, Maru could take the time to mine a bit more. As much as Maru disliked these dark levels, their progress was exciting. Toiling away far below the ground really messed with your sense of time, but Maru knew they were well into the afternoon by now. But see how far they were getting! Sometimes, Abigail would find the ladder after vanquishing a foe, but usually the job was Maru’s. Once they were tired of poking around in vain, she could use her cherry bombs to blast an entire section. There was no worry about wasting them. Maru had plenty of copper and coal for now.

With such teamwork, they powered through the dark levels. Maru almost ignored the elevator on Level 35 as they charged at the bats waiting for them there. She and Abigail shared the remaining omelette on Level 37 - the constant combat and mining were beginning to take a toll again, plus it was around dinnertime. Good thing neither of their families required them to be home on a Saturday evening. With the added sustenance, the girls attacked the next three levels until they reached 40.

When Maru turned away from the ladder on this new level, she felt her breath catch in her throat again.

What was before pitch black was now sparkling with colour. Maru walked across the immaculate white ground and touched the spinning patterns carved wall. It gleamed back at her in what looked like gems, smooth and glassy turquoise, jade, pearl, and milky opal. It reminded her of the beautiful telescope stills from FRODSE of distant galaxies and nebulae with their shimming swirl of colours. Maru let out a sigh and saw her breath mist up before her. Ah, so it wasn’t bejewelled. Just beautifully frozen rock, complete with frosted curlicues and an icy touch. How strange for a place like this to appear underground. But Maru felt nothing would really surprise her in the mines now.

She turned around to see Abigail digging through yet another chest. She turned and waved her new find at Maru: a slingshot, carved from handsome hardwood and fitted with a leather sling.

“Awesome, I’ve always wanted a slingshot,” Abigail said. She tucked the new weapon into the band of her tunic. “Maybe I can find something to chuck at Haley.”

“Um…” Maru might have been a little distracted by the loveliness of this level, but she was still paying attention. “Maybe you shouldn’t.”

“Relax, I’m kidding.” Abigail gazed around too. “This is really cool.”

“Right?” Maru smiled. “We made it to Level 40!”

Abigail laughed. “Yes! Fifteen levels in one day, go us!”

They high fived. The slapping sound cracked the chilly air, and Maru’s palm smarted from the impact. But she had high fived Abigail. To think that they had only bumped into one another just a week ago, but now here they were…

“Wow,” Abigail said. She reached over and took Maru’s hand. Maru realised that Abigail was looking at her watch. “It’s like, 10:30. Crap. We better leave.”

They hurried to the elevator, pressed the button for 0 (the panel would mysteriously birth new buttons every five levels), and emerged from the mountain together. Maru’s nose went numb from the cold wind that drove the falling snow down in flurries. She and Abigail huddled close as they floundered through the snow down the mountain. Abigail was humming some silly tune and kicking up as much snow as she could with her boots so they scattered along to the whistling wind. Maru couldn’t keep a straight face and was still swallowing some stray giggles when they arrived at 24 Mountain Road.

Abigail handed her sword over again, but kept the slingshot. It was far less conspicuous, they agreed, so Caroline and Pierre would be able to handle it. Abigail smiled, her purple hair waving around like crazed tentacles around her head. “Thanks for a great day, Maru. See you next week!”

“You too.” Maru took careful steps along the stepping stones to her house, especially with the sword in her hands. The ground was slick and frozen beneath the powdery snow. At the threshold of her door, she chanced a glance back at Abigail.

Abigail seemed to glide across the snow. Her pace was steady and smooth, no awkward slipping on the icy path. Her hair danced around her head like a crazed set of tentacles. Between the glow ring on her hand that illuminated her whole body and the falling snow whirling to the ground, Abigail resembled some sort of weird, out of this world character from a fantasy epic.

Maru watched until she disappeared down the mountain before going inside. Without Abigail, she immediately felt the fatigue of the day settle upon her. The rush of energy, the excitement of discovery was gone. Not even bothering to stash the sword or tidy her materials, Maru flopped onto her bed and was fast asleep in seconds.


	8. Abigail

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My apologies for sitting dormant for two weeks! Here, have a very LONG chapter as compensation. C:

Winter usually was a bummer for Abigail. She loved the Fall, so she hated knowing that it would end in blank nothingness. The cold didn’t bother her, but the fact that the world seemed to clam up and stop moving always made her restless. Her parents would fuss and fear for her if she even so much implied spending the day outdoors, so Abigail usually ended up at Sebastian’s house. Robin was the only adult in town that didn’t mind her hanging around, and sometimes she even let her try out a few tools. For years, that had been the closest Abigail had gotten to using a real weapon.

Until this winter. Abigail woke up every day feeling renewed, energy and emotions running like live wires down her limbs. Sometimes she thought she saw sparks going off at the end of her fingers. The days were still slow and dreary, just like the way her father counted and recounted his stock, or her mother hemming and hawing over some tiny, annoying, pointless chore. One particularly sunny morning, Caroline had sent Abigail out into the back garden with the order to clear off the walk. Abigail couldn’t help noticing that the shovel felt like almost nothing in her hands. The year before, she would have struggled and whined under its weight.

She loved going through the mines. Each new level was a frighteningly different adventure. Abigail savoured every moment. She closed her eyes and still saw her shadow looming tall along the rugged walls from the light of a torch, heard the echoes of stone scraping on stone, sensed the sudden stillness of the stale cave air before a monster attacked. The best moments though, were when a new ladder was unearthed and they dropped down into it - into darkness, into uncertainty, into a whole new universe full of possibilities.

And in particular, she loved going through the mines with Maru. Who she’d thought of as a little goody two-shoes had proved that she was nothing of the sort. Maru was probably the best adventuring partner she could have found in the whole valley. The girl was smart, resourceful, level headed, and - as far as Abigail was concerned - totally fearless. First she’d fought off an entire swarm of bugs and dragged Abigail’s sorry ass back up the levels, just to heal her. Then she’d taught her about supplies and bombs. And agreed to hide her sword. That was all on the same day, Abigail always reminded herself. Since then, Maru had always been the trailblazer with her pickaxe and lantern. Abigail had her sword, but she had frozen up in shock when that huge new monster had reared itself on Level 31. If Maru hadn’t brought her back to life by yelling that it was just a stone golem, there might not be much of Abigail left to mull over all this.

These frozen levels were proving a lot more fun for them both compared to the darkness. They were taking it easier this week after gunning through the other ones like machines. Part of the reason why it felt so much more relaxed was because of how pretty these levels were. She could tell that Maru, at least, wasn’t in a hurry to find the bottom of the mines.

“A frozen geode!” Maru’s breath misted up in the chilly air as she hefted a large, droplet-shaped rock from the ground. “Dad loves these. I can’t wait to show him!”

“Congrats,” Abigail called out. She was leaning over to examine the strange markings her latest victory had left behind. She had rounded a corner and they had stormed out at her, bouncing around like springs on a sugar high. Abigail had reacted on instinct, as it was nowadays - it was like the restless rage that used to churn and seethe inside her had been reworked into fuel for a steady, methodological rhythm: grounding the legs, gripping the hilt, parry, thrust, slash, pierce. She reached out a finger and lightly swept it along the ground. Fine black dust: soot. Abigail stood up and wiped her hand on her leggings.

Maru wobbled as she tried to swing her pack, now heavy with the geode, onto her shoulder. “Whoah!”

“Careful,” Abigail said. She walked over and offered a hand to provide support as Maru finally managed to stand straight. Maru was wearing bright red mittens with green wrists, patterned with small black dots. Strawberry mittens. Sometimes her clothes were just too cute. So cute that Abigail swallowed a grimace as she waited for Maru to get her bearings.

Maru tugged on her backpack straps and blinked owlishly up at Abigail. “How about you? Doing okay?”

“Yep.” Abigail nodded over to the other corner. “Found a ladder, by the way. Those jumpy dust things gave us one.”

“Great!” Maru’s pickaxe bounced, not unlike the soot sprites,as they made their way over. “Wow, Level 50. I wonder if there will be a change yet?”

Not quite yet. Level 50, it turned out, was instead one of the breather levels. Abigail rushed over to the mahogany chest that lay in the centre of the small cavern. After a quick flip of the locks, the lid opened to reveal a pair of…

“Tundra boots,” Maru said. Of course she knew. “I think that’s real kid leather and angora lining too.”

Abigail handed them over. “Here, put them on.”

Maru stammered as the shoes were thrust into her hands. “Wha - wait - are you sure?”

“Yeah, I’m fine! Seriously, I hardly feel the cold.” Abigail flopped onto the icy ground to prove her point. She winced - maybe the cold wasn’t an issue, but it was still solid rock. “And with all the fighting and stuff, it’s practically a little too warm down here.”

Maru joined her, dropping her backpack and sitting to change footwear. “No kidding. I’ve always wondered how you could just walk around all winter without sleeves.”

Abigail glanced down at her bare arms. She hadn’t even thought about that. Maru, observant and practical as always.

They both relaxed into this unofficial break, sitting across from one another beside a treasure chest in this beautiful, sparkling, frozen chamber. Maru had dried cranberries again. Abigail wrinkled her nose and declined the offer. She rummaged through her pockets. Sometimes the slimes dropped winter roots in these levels. Her fingers closed around something hard and spiky instead. Abigail pulled out the quartz and without thinking, took a bite.

Maru’s jaw dropped, accidentally revealing a small glob of chewed up berry. “Did you just…?”

Abigail crunched slowly. It had a slightly salty taste. “Hmmm. Not bad.”

Maru quickly closed her mouth and swallowed. “That was a quartz! It’s a 7 on the Mohs scale! Even steel doesn’t make a scratch.”

“Cool,” Abigail said. She grinned, big. “So that mean my choppers are better than knives?”

She leaned over and gave her best shark imitation, snapping with her teeth bared. Maru jumped a little, still gaping, then started to laugh. Abigail couldn’t hold back either, and soon the cave echoed with their giggles.

“Hey,” Abigail said once they had calmed down a bit. “How’s the satellite?” Maru’s little project had intrigued Abigail the moment it had been mentioned in conversation. The idea of sending a probe into the unknown excited her. After all, that’s what they were doing down here in the mines - just going the opposite direction.

Maru blushed. It was very amusing and also interesting to Abigail that she could still manage to be embarrassed of her achievements, considering her academic fame in the valley. “Oh! It’s coming along fine. I’ve been smelting a lot of refined quartz for the solar panels so it can be self-sufficient. It’ll need to be for long term voyages. I don’t want to stick a battery in and have it die halfway into the atmosphere.”

“Yeah. Where do you want to send it, then? What are you going to use it for?” Abigail leaned against the chest and let her imagination follow the satellite’s flight into the far reaches of space. “What else can you put on it? Maybe we can contact aliens.”

Maru smiled, tilting her head. She looked thoughtful. “Yeah, maybe we could…”

Abigail needed to know. “Hey, why aren’t you out like, building real rockets to space? That totally seems like your thing. I can see you as an astronaut or an engineer - look at where we are. It wouldn’t have happened without you.”

Maru’s face flushed even redder at the praise. “I…well, thanks! Wow. That means a lot. And uh, I guess that I…um…”

The truth came out on the icy floor. Abigail felt the rage slowly grow inside her again as Maru described the situation with university and Demetrius. Abigail had never really liked that guy. Alright, it had mainly been because of her friendship with Sebastian, but now finding out that he was messing around in Maru’s life too made her even more annoyed. Abigail’s fingers twitched as Maru talked about wanting to strike out on her own path, even if she wasn’t sure what that path even was yet. It was an all too familiar story. It reminded her of what lay waiting back home too.

“That sucks,” she said as emphatically as she could when Maru finished. The two words didn’t fully encapsulate what Abigail wished to express, but they would do for now. “What do you actually want to do, then?”

Maru gave a half-shrug. “Dunno. I guess, my own thing? I just like to mess around and make up my own projects. That’s why I’m fine with not going to university yet. I’d like to explore a lot of different things…there’s such a pressure to choose now, though.”

She quickly ducked her head down, taking off her glasses and wiping them with her sleeve, allowing her hair to fall like a curtain between them. Abigail had the feeling that Maru felt ashamed, perhaps even guilty. But she was right. Expectation followed Maru around Pelican Town like ducklings. Abigail recalled past festivals, when on the random, few moments she looked up and paid attention to what the adults were doing, Demetrius was always smiling and nodding about his precious, precocious genius. She was Going Places. The only place Abigail went was the graveyard, sometimes. And more recently, the forest. She hadn’t gone exploring there for long, but it emanated a strangely familiar feeling that grew stronger the deeper she went in. Abigail couldn’t explain…

She hastily shook these thoughts from her head and blurted out the first thing she could to get back on topic. “Then yeah, don’t go and sign up for a whole uni program. Just take a few classes and see what you like first. Tryouts, kinda.”

Maru pushed the glasses back up her nose. “Huh?”

Abigail explained the online courses. Maru’s expression morphed from confusion to surprise, then fascination. Abigail made a point to describe the variety, the self-sufficiency, and the opportunities to fashion one’s own experience. “If not enough people sign up, sometimes the instructors basically let you decide what to study, as long as it fits enough into the course topic. I convinced mine to let me do a video reenactment of the Legend of the Winter Star and rumours of the Stardrop for my term paper.”

Maru blinked at her. “Huh. That sounds really interesting.”

“I bet you could even use your radio satellite there,” Abigail said. “That would be cool!”

Maru smiled. “Yeah, it would.”

Abigail could tell that Maru was really mulling it over when they went back up to the surface. The distant, thoughtful look on her face was still there when they said their goodbyes and parted ways at 24 Mountain Road.

* * *

Sebastian’s birthday was on Wednesday. It coincided with band practice at Sam’s house, so that’s where they had their celebration. Abigail almost knocked over her cymbals in eager haste when Jodi and Sam hefted a glorious three-tiered chocolate cake into Sam’s bedroom. Sebastian’s lips twitched as he tried not to show pleasure when they sang, slightly off-key, to him.

They sat on the carpet in front of the drum kit and devoured their cake. Sam raised a fork in salute after his mother had ushered Vincent back into the kitchen with a slice. “To Seb! Our keyboard king, tabletop wizard, my best buddy in the entire universe. Congrats man, for surviving another year.”

Sebastian cracked a faint smile. “Surviving sounds about right.”

Sam beamed at them. He had always reminded Abigail of a golden retriever: big dopey grin, loud barky noises when excited, long loping gallops from place to place, and blond hair flopping all over whilst doing so. He declared that he had the PERFECT present for Sebastian and to hold on while he got it, trotting out of the room.

Abigail put down her plate. It was pristine - she loved chocolate cake. And she knew what Sebastian loved too. He had tensed up a little bit the moment Sam had left them alone, and he fiddled with his hoodie strings. If Abigail hadn’t known better, she would have thought he was even blushing a little bit. Wait, was he actually? It didn’t matter. She dug around in her pockets.

“Hey!” She found what she was looking for and put it in his hand. “Happy birthday.”

Sebastian’s eyes widened in shock. Then they bunched up in delighted squints as he held the frozen tear to the light. It sparkled with a crystalline purity, the edges gleaming almost silver. Sebastian ran his thumb along the smooth surface, careful about the sharp point at one end.

“I…I really love this. How did you know?”

“I have my ways,” Abigail said loftily. She leaned back on her hands and felt proud as Sebastian continued to admire his new mineral. It actually wasn’t hard at all. Sebastian had often remarked that his favourite legend was of the yeti: an enormous furry monster roaming the mountain in search of lost souls, their moans blending into the harsh North winds and bitter tears freezing as they fell into the snow. Abigail had remembered this when she had spoken to Maru about her mythology course down in the mines. And, they were in the ice levels. It had been easy to find and pick up a frozen tear.

It was heartwarming to see her friend smile, actually smiling wide. Who knew Sebastian even had teeth? He turned to her with this full, genuine happy expression, and she couldn’t help but smile back. Almost instantly, he blanched and did blush this time, stuffing the frozen tear into his hoodie. Abigail arched an eyebrow. Well, she’d take it. He was getting weird, lately.

As if to corroborate this thought, Sebastian suddenly changed the subject. “What is with you and my half-sister, anyway?”

“What?”

“You know what I mean. I saw you and Maru on Friday. What are you guys doing?”

“Nothing,” she replied. He frowned at her. Well, fair enough. “We’re conducting a secret project. It’s going smashingly well. Don’t worry about us.”

Abigail was surprised when Sebastian’s frown gave way to a scowl. “But…why? I thought you were on my side.”

She made a face at him. “Wow, what’s your problem? Listen to yourself. You’re literally 22 years old now. There are no sides. Maru’s cool. She and I are having fun. Chill out.”

Sebastian clamped his mouth shut and stared down at his high tops, which were fraying at the heel. Abigail bit her lip, trying to think of an apology before realising that no, she didn’t want to apologise - everything she had said were her honest feelings about the subject. Sebastian was her friend, but Maru was too, now. If Sebastian didn’t like that, he’d just have to deal with it.

They both jumped a little when the door banged open. Good ol’ puppy Sam bounded in, panting a little and waving a wrapped box in the air. “Ha! It’s the perfect present. Wait ‘til you see. Come on, open it!”

Abigail stood up. “You guys go ahead and do that, I’ll clean up this stuff,” she said. She shrugged off Sam’s whining that they haaaaaaad to do it together, they were a BAND, and took the dirty dishes to the kitchen. She liked Sebastian, but whenever he tucked himself into his turtle shell of angst and resentment, Abigail lost her patience. And this time around, it was about something that actually made her mad. For years, she’d dealt with his angst over Maru and Demetrius, but now it seemed to be nothing more than a one-sided jealous whine on his part. She sucked in a deep breath to quell the rage in her stomach, and the plates stopped rattling.

Abigail mentally counted to ten before heading back to Sam’s bedroom. The murmurs coming through the open doorway were enough to make her pause. She pressed herself against the wall.

“Everyone likes Maru more,” Sebastian’s voice said. It was low, but not low enough. Abigail heard every word. “They think she's better. She got better grades, she understood things faster, she was the good kid, everything. And like, I was pretty much cool with all of it, right? I accepted it. I knew she was smarter than me. But, Abigail-”

“Abigail isn’t gonna be like that!” Sam could never keep his voice down anyway. Abigail peeked over carefully and saw Sebastian’s hood flatten as Sam flung an arm over his shoulder. Sebastian was still staring at the floor. “She knows you, man. You gotta believe in her.”

“But she hangs out with Maru like, every night now,” Sebastian said. “I can hear them. It’s always really late. What the hell are they doing?”

“Just trust her,” Sam urged. “It’s probably not anything to worry about.”

“But…” Sebastian heaved a long sigh. “Abigail.”

“So?”

“You know.”

Sam nudged him. “Don’t stress, alright? You’re gonna be okay, and she’ll come around. I believe it!”

Abigail didn’t have to look. She could feel Sebastian rolling his eyes. She stomped her feet loudly before walking back into the room. “Done cleaning after you slobs!” Sebastian looked up at her, blinking and putting on his best neutral face. Sam, of course, stared at her like a child caught stealing cookies from the kitchen. Abigail swallowed a smirk. “So what’s this amazing present? Can’t be better than mine.”

Sebastian held up the box. “Pretty close, though. Solarian Chronicles: The Game, 6th Edition. With the bonus Wasteland Expansion pack.”

“Nice.” Abigail flopped back down onto the carpet. “So, what are we waiting for? Let’s play. I call warrior.”

Sam perked up, yipping and whining over how he wanted to be the warrior. A smile spread slowly across Sebastian’s face, and he opened the box. Abigail reached over and helped him set up the board. Their fingers brushed, and she saw him press his lips together tightly, avoiding her gaze.

Sam had been right; she knew him. It was weird to think about. Abigail didn't know if she ever wanted to think about it. But as Sam pulled up the scenario card, she knew she wouldn’t have to today. All she needed to do was to show him that she was always going to be the same person she’d always been, adventuring with Maru or not.

_The King has died, and a rift has been driven through the kingdom. Various factions grapple vainly for power. In the confusion you are banished to the fringes: the Wasteland. It is a desolate moor of empty expanses and dangerous bandits. The only way to restore peace is to seek out the lost heir to the Arcane Throne, who was smuggled away as a babe for their protection. It is your task to find this unsuspecting youth, living amongst locals completely unaware of their might, and escort them home..._


	9. Abigail

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **LATE GAME SPOILERS IN THIS CHAPTER**
> 
> Apologies for the wait again! I have some news regarding that, but I'll leave it for the end notes instead. For now, enjoy another nice LONG chapter!

“Maru...”

Abigail could scarcely believe it. She turned the gift over and over again in her hands. No words could be found.

“I was getting really nervous seeing you drag around a naked blade,” Maru said. “And, the point of a scabbard is to prevent extra wear and damage.”

Abigail held it out before her. Her trusty old broadsword now sat snugly in a beautiful scabbard of black and silver: bat wings held together with thin rings of iron. Maru had even followed the natural scalloped edges of the wings, giving it all a rather gothic look, like inky storm clouds rising above a frozen sea. No frills otherwise, but Abigail wouldn’t have wanted anything else. It was perfect. It was beautiful. She told Maru so.

Maru’s eyes squinted under her glasses and she flushed pink. “I have the scraps of your old blanket if you want, but I’m guessing that this is a pretty good substitute, right?”

Abigail hooked the scabbard onto her belt. It just barely avoided scraping the ground, but didn’t interfere with her movement as she tried out some footwork. “It’s amazing. I can’t thank you enough.”

Maru shrugged, trying to deflect the praise. “Then don’t. It’s okay. It was a cool project.”

For the second time that week, Abigail marveled at how far they’d come from the beginning of the season. She wondered, again, why she had never realised how great of a friend Maru could be. Well, there was ONE obvious reason. But even without Sebastian around, Abigail knew she wouldn’t have given the short girl in coke bottle glasses and overalls another glance. Her fingers curled around the scabbard, and she felt the contrasting velvet wing and smooth metal beneath her palm.

“And I uh, have good news,” Maru said.

“Yeah?”

Maru’s eyes darted around, and she fidgeted a little. But she eventually stood up straighter, hands linked behind her back. “I signed up for two online courses at the Zuzu Institute of Science and Technology for the spring term!”

“Awesome!” Abigail held up her hand for a high five. Maru complied sheepishly. “What subject?”

“Introduction to Materials Science and Astrophysics 101,” Maru said. She even began to bounce up and down on the balls of her feet. Abigail watched her red hair puff out with every jiggle. “So one of the basic prerequisite courses for the Aerospace Engineering program, and a theoretical course just for fun.”

“So, your dad was into it, huh?”

Maru laughed. “Really into it, actually. I mean, that’s why I’m taking it at ZIST. He looked up all the courses and made a shortlist for me, though Astrophysics wasn’t on there. That was all me. But he’s already talking about going full time into the Engineering Faculty. I’m usually not crazy about theory, but this one is fundamental to understanding our universe.”

Abigail didn’t understand any of that, but she gave her friend a thumbs up. “Told you so. You’re gonna blow them all out of the theoretical water.”

Maru giggled, so she knew that the stab at a joke had actually made sense. They went into the elevator and descended down to Level 70. Abigail felt the familiar rush of cool air blowing into her face, but the moment she stepped out into the cold, she knew things had changed yet again. Her boots clacked more loudly against the smooth, pristine floor - gone was the powdery, crunchy snow. Abigail gazed around and took in the solid, stacked walls of impeccably hewn bricks. They almost seemed to glow white in the blaze of the torches. There were even some arched windows set into them. What on earth could they be for? They were 70 storeys beneath the surface… Abigail wandered over and peered into the dark panes. Was there something out there? Was this actually a different world?

Maru pointed. “Hey, there’s another chest.”

They opened it together. It was a larger slingshot - Abigail had eventually handed her other one over to Sam, who was a far better shot with it than she ever could be. But she wouldn’t say no to a new toy. She tucked it into her belt.

Maru was already by the ladder in the corner. “Ready?”

Abigail pulled out her sword. There was a delicious shwing as it slid out of the leather scabbard. She loved how that sounded. “Bring it.”

The cavern looked and felt like empty castle corridors stretching out into frozen eternity. Abigail held up her sword in third position, waiting. At least it was well lit. Nothing would beat the black levels, as she had begun calling them. All she could hear was Maru rummaging around the rocks behind her. There was plenty of material here to examine and explore here.

She didn’t realise that she had mistaken rattling bones for scraping stone until the first skeleton was almost upon her. Abigail remembered them from the Spirits Eve Festival, clunking around in the big cage with their uneven, lame gaits. It had made sense, considering there wasn’t even any muscle to anything moving. But now they moved in crisp, efficient, almost robotic movements, the wind whistling through their eye sockets and spindly fingers twitching as they reached for her. Abigail’s sword hacked angrily at them. Some seemed to have remnants of armour or clothing upon their limbs, but they fell away to her blade easily.

The bones crumpled into dust, then faded away right there on the glassy floor. Some sort of magic, no doubt. Abigail felt a twang of disappointment - it would have been cool to examine some of them. She had never been so close to these skeletons before, and never ones so animated. She looked over at Maru, who was almost out of earshot at the other end of the tunnel. Studiously mining away, occasionally straightening up to hold ores to the lantern light, smiling a little at the good quality ones. Abigail felt a great surge of affection for her friend. There was nobody else she’d rather be with down here, in this strange, different, underground world.

Her thoughts were interrupted with a loud, low moan. Abigail’s heart leaped. Even Maru seemed to freeze, looking up with a furrowed brow. Then Abigail saw it from the corner of her eye - the translucent, shapeless figure floating slowly, almost lazily in her direction. It winked in and out, but when Abigail was able to, she saw two empty holes for eyes and a gaping mouth. Something stirred in her belly, an uneasy but excited gut feeling that this is what she thought it was. Abigail held her sword aloft and prepared to stab, but it was an instant too late. The figure slipped past her and Abigail blanked out in white-cold numbness for…it couldn’t have been more than a few seconds, but it felt like she had looked into endless time. By the time she came to, gasping and blinking back in reality, the figure was gone.

Abigail whirled around and just in time, because it was creeping up behind her, ectoplasmic limbs waggling listlessly in the air, and Abigail summoned all of her rage and forced it up into her arms. In the haze she thought she saw them glowing purple as she struck against the ghost again and again, its whimpering wails melting into nothing.

She let the sword clatter to the floor loudly, clutching her aching biceps. They felt like they had been on fire. She heard Maru running over, shouting words of concern. Abigail didn’t have the strength to answer until she had forced down a few gulps of broth from Maru’s thermos - and ignored the more probing questions in favour of the monster she had finally fought.

“I knew it! Ghosts are real! Wait until Seb finds out.”

“But look what it did to you,” Maru said, staring at Abigail’s arms.

At least they weren’t glowing anymore. Abigail silently thanked Yoba for that. “Nah, I just got distracted. And I was already fighting a few skellies. Thanks for the food though.”

Maru didn’t look too convinced. “Okay. You’re welcome.”

The rest of their run was fairly uneventful in comparison. Only skeletons and frost jellies dared make an appearance after that, as if it had driven away the more…cognizant beings. She didn’t want Maru to worry, so she tried to keep the conversation on a positive, non-inadvertent-manifestation-of-Abigail’s-rage oriented slant.

“If you ask me, we have it now. Proof that the supernatural exists,” she said as they creaked back up the elevator.

Maru shook her head. “No, there’s got to be a scientific explanation. There’s been a fair bit of research on the ecology of our planet, and we do have some very bizarre phenomenons that occur naturally. That’s the reason my dad chose Stardew Valley, because there’s such a wide variety of species above and underground.”

“Magical species,” Abigail said. “How can you explain some of the things we’ve seen?”

“Just because we haven’t figured out the processes behind it doesn’t mean it’s instantly magical,” Maru said. They emerged at the mine’s surface level. Abigail saw snow falling outside the entrance again. “I’m not saying that it’s fake, or that I don’t find it cool. It’s totally cool! And one day science can tell you why it works, which is even cooler.”

Abigail sighed. Nonbelievers weren’t going to be swayed in a single conversation. “Whatever. Anyway, think we can hit 75 by next time?”

Maru grinned. “ Yeah, definitely. Maybe even 80 on Monday.”

“Deal!” They sealed this promise with a high five. Abigail waved Maru goodbye at the top of the path before trekking back down the mountain. Snow was falling steadily. Abigail stomped through the thick new layer on the ground enthusiastically, listening to the crunch beneath her soles. She didn’t bother looking up at the Community Centre, hidden behind a curtain of falling white, as she hurried home.

The store’s bell tinkled softly as she stole back inside. The only light came from the windows outside. Long shadows were cast along the floor, and Abigail slid in and out between them as she moved along the shelves towards her room. She held her tunic close around her to conceal her new scabbard. Now that she had protective covering, Abigail had figured that smuggling her sword back home wouldn’t be too dangerous. And anyway, she wanted more time to admire it. Sweet Yoba, it was beautiful.

“ABIGAIL!”

The scream shot through her chest like a dagger and she knocked her knee painfully against the doorframe. The scabbard clunked loudly against it too. Abigail looked up in horror to see both her parents rushing down the corridor towards her.

“Abigail, why didn’t you tell us?”

“I…” Waves of panic flowed down her body as she tried to hide the scabbard again. “I don’t know what you’re talking about…”

“Didn’t you come down from the mountain?” demanded Caroline, her eyes wide and greying hair falling out of its bands behind her. Pierre came hurrying out of their bedroom, pulling his arms into an old bomber jacket. “You know that it’s important to us to find out about things like this! It changes everything!”

Abigail fumbled for the doorknob, hoping that at least if she got in before them she could toss the sword under the bed, but Caroline snatched up her wrist. “Oh no, you don’t, young lady. You’re coming with us. We have to investigate.”

Abigail’s heart sank. Maybe Maru wasn’t allowed to go beyond the bug levels. Demetrius surely seemed like the overprotective type. She had never expected Robin to rat them out, though. “I’m sorry, it’s just that I was so sick of being stuck here all the ti-”

“Stop making this all about you,” huffed Caroline, pulling her back towards the shop. Abigail felt the scabbard slip from her belt and fall to the floor right beside the counter. There was no time to retrieve it, but neither of her parents noticed. Pierre waved them through the door into the snow and muttered to himself as he locked it up tight. “Would it be so terrible for you to consider your poor father for once? He works so hard, and this is his moment!”

Okay, she definitely didn’t know what was going on anymore. Abigail felt the panicked energy in her stomach subside as she followed her parents along the cobbled town paths in the swirling snow. She could barely see beyond her mother’s uncovered head from the fuzzy light of the lampposts. Pierre’s was bent down, concentrating on his footing on the stone steps leading up to the mountain path.

But that wasn’t where they were going. Abigail stopped short when she saw what her mother was talking about: the old Community Centre. Or, rather, the new Community Centre. No longer was it a hulking, dilapidated and broken down husk of a building. Instead it stood proudly with a fresh coat of purple paint and icicles hanging off a neatly shingled roof. Beautifully carved butterfly shutters framed the windows that spilled warm buttery squares of light onto the snow. As Abigail and her family hurried up the stepping stones, the repaired clock chimed softly as it struck 9:00 PM.

Inside, Abigail gasped in surprise. She had gone exploring in the old building before, and remembered it well: peeling wallpaper, missing floorboards, gnarly old roots and vines taking over in the dust and the gloom. Now it was a completely different view. The walls were lined with bookshelves and potted plants, separated by comfy-looking couches and brightly woven carpets on the shining varnished hardwood floors. A fire crackled merrily in the hearth, where seven inlaid golden stars glittered above the mantle.

Caroline walked around, her hands clasped to her chest. “It’s a miracle!”

Pierre beamed. “Joja will never get to this now!”

In no time at all, the rest of the Pelican Town came filing into the Community Centre, buzzing with excitement at the change. Who had done this? Abigail trailed along the crowd as they investigated the kitchen, pantry, crafts room, office and boiler room. All appliances had been replaced with the latest models in prime condition, all areas were well stocked with fresh supplies, and the lights flickered softly as if they had been working perfectly the entire time. They gathered in the main room around the mantle with the stars. How could it have happened?

As they talked, more people appeared. Mayor Lewis hurried in, jaw hanging open as he took in his surroundings. Behind him was Farmer Gilly. Abigail waved at her friend, who was brushing snow off her earmuffs. Gilly didn’t seem as surprised as anyone else. Maybe even a little disappointed.

“I’m not sure how you did it, Gilly, but the Community Centre has never looked better,” Lewis said. “You’ve done Pelican Town a great service.”

Before anyone could react, the door - would it ever remain closed? - burst open again. Abigail felt her anger ignite when a dumpy, dour-faced man stomped through the entrance, slush dripping off his leather shoes and that stupid bowtie askew. Morris, district manager of JojaMart, glared at everyone, face flushed.

“Whaa…?” The ends of his black trenchcoat twitched as he whirled around, staring at the residents of Pelican Town. “All my customers…Here?!? This isn’t good…”

Abigail felt a touch on her arm. She looked up as her father gently moved her elbow, walking across the floor. His glasses glinted as he strode across the floor to face his nemesis.

“How does it feel?” Pierre asked. He held his head high, fixing his gaze upon Morris. The two men stood nearly nose to nose, a glaring match for the ages. Abigail felt her breath catch in her chest.

Gilly stepped forward. The townspeople’s interests were immediately picked. Their resident farmer was not much of a talker, so if she chose to say something, the words were heeded carefully. Gilly looked closely at both of the men. Then, she stepped back and glanced at Abigail before saying, “Let’s settle this the old-fashioned way.”

“Hah!” The syllable exploded into the air as Morris’s mouth twisted into an ugly grin. “This means nothing. I’ll just run a 75%-off sale and all my customers will come crawling back to me, begging for forgiveness. You’ll see!”

Abigail saw her father’s arms trembling. Pierre exhaled slowly, shudderingly, and his eyes narrowed. “No…Not this time, Morris. I think it’s time we’ve settled this once and for all,” he said quietly.

“Oh? And how do you propose we do that?” Morris sneered.

Pierre suddenly went still. Abigail stared as the man she called her father closed his eyes. Then Pierre’s biceps bulged as he lifted his arms, fists balled up tightly, and he began bouncing along the balls of his feet, knees bobbing up and down quickly.

“Hah! Primitive…”Moris scoffed. He turned on his heel, the trenchcoat twitching again.

“If you’re too scared to fight me, then bring one of your coworkers!” Pierre growled. “Or are all Joja employees such cowards?”

Abigail couldn’t believe it. Pierre was supposed to be her dorky, single-minded dad, who whined over bruised apples and dented goods, and wouldn’t even stop to eat lunch in the kitchen on a busy day. But here he was, hands up and ready to throw and block punches. He moved to face Morris, and she recognised that look in his eye. She knew the tremble in his arms. It was the Rage, what she felt when Caroline frowned at her purple hair, when Demetrius criticized Sebastian, when Maru just nodded and stared at her feet, when a bat came bearing down at her in the darkness. It was the overwhelming, gnawing, insatiable feeling of blind energy that would move them to do crazy, incredible things. It was the desire to reach out and throttle circumstance by the throat, and to create one’s own destiny.

Morris was outraged. “Insult me all you like, but don’t you DARE slander the good name of Joja!”

Abigail looked on in amazement as her father and the JojaMart man circled each other, fists raised. The other townspeople crowded in. Robin clapped her hands over her mouth. Lewis jumped in shock, first hurrying forward as if to break up the fight, but backing away after a second’s thought. Gilly stared, expression neutral, but her eyes strangely bright.

“PIERRE!” Caroline rushed over from the corner where she had been chumming it away with Jodi and Robin. For once, that scandalised expression wasn’t directed at Abigail, but her husband instead. Caroline gasped and blubbered like a goldfish, wringing her hands helplessly at the scene.

“HA!” Abigail saw the wizened old Mr. George Mullner chortling from his wheelchair. His face had split into a mass of wrinkles surrounding a wide smirk. “Good stuff, eh?”

“You’re even weaker than your produce section,” Morris snarled as he dodged a quick jab from Pierre.

“And the way you throw punches are just like Joja…” Pierre said evenly. Abigail was dumbfounded at his outward calm, because she saw the strength building up in him. She knew the feeling well, from when she was down in the mines with Maru - it started in your stomach, crawling and surging through your arms and exploring through the fingertips. “Quantity over quality!”

Murmurs and gasps from the townspeople. Abigail clenched her own fists and prayed to Yoba. Just one sign of her father actually feeling like her father, for once. “Come on, dad,” she whispered.

“Get ‘im!” yelled George.

Pierre drew his right arm back, like a loaded string of a bow. Morris’s gaze followed the withdrawn fist, and he seemed to freeze in place as the punch came barrelling into his chin. Abigail was frozen too, watching in fascination when Morris’s eyes rolled back into his head, the lens of his glasses shattering to the floor, chin pointing up and the rest of his body following as he was lifted into the air and dropped back down on his back, out cold with a single blow.

There was a shocked silence, then the room erupted. Abigail was at the front of the crowd that rushed forward, cheering wildly.

“For Pelican Town!” cried Pierre, pumping a fist - _the_ fist, in fact - into the air. “And Stardew Valley! Never to be ruled by capitalistic cronies, no deals with corporate devils! Oh, no thank you,” he said generously to Gilly, who was offering up her Stardew Valley Hero trophy. “That’s yours. Getting to wipe that smug smile off that little weasel is a prize enough.”

“Dad!” Abigail waved to get his attention. “That was amazing!”

He beamed at her. “Thank you, Abby.”

“No, seriously. When did you-”

“Didn’t know that your old man could have been a prizefighter once?” Pierre looped an arm around her, and Abigail leaned into his shoulder. She still couldn’t believe that her dad - her DAD, in his goofy glasses and old bomber jacket, shared the same rage as she did. It was the first time they had ever shared anything, probably. “Boxing was my whole life in my youth.”

“Oh, was it ever,” sighed Caroline, appearing at Pierre’s other side. “And I thought you left it all behind you!”

“The memories are in the muscle, dear,” Pierre said, hugging his family to him. “I’m not going to make a habit of it, but surely you can allow me just this once.”

Caroline’s brow creased as she frowned, making small hmph noises through her nose. But then she cracked, and a smile spread across her face. It seemed like years had fallen from her face, making her cheeks rosy and eyes sparkle again. Abigail had never seen her parents this happy.

“Well, it’s time for a celebration!” declared Pierre, still with his arms around Abigail and Caroline. “Gus! Open up the Stardrop. Give anyone anything they like. It’s all on my tab tonight!”

Another cheer echoed around the Community Centre. Abigail squeezed her eyes shut and imagined, as she walked out with her mother and father, the electric current that ran through the three of them. For one cold, crazy, perfect night, they were connected. They were family.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First of all, in the first session of writing this chapter, I just put in "blah blah science jargon whoah" down for Maru's little uni course ramble. Because I myself do not science. My apologies to actual Aerospace Engineers who may be ripping their hair out over my bastardisation of course names (one of my close friends WAS an astrophysics major, but we almost never talked about his studies...except for the one time he explained why scientists search for signs of life mainly based on carbon). 
> 
> Secondly, I acknowledge that I am taking liberties with the Community Centre cutscene by having Abigail there. But this is a story about her relationships, and I felt like this moment would be important for her and Pierre's arc!
> 
> Third, I am forced to announce a short hiatus on updating this fic. I was thrown an emotional curveball last week when I was only prepared for work-related fastballs, and as a result, I'm basically benched for the month. There's just a lot going on and I had to reorganise my priorities. Sorry for this, but I still enjoy writing for Stardew and hope to see you all in May!! Thank you for reading.


	10. Maru

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And I'm back! It's still May...so I have kept to my promise, right? ;'D

“And then - kapow! He got him straight on the jaw, and that little piece of trash went flying through the air! Right through the roof!”

Maru chuckled dutifully as Abigail flung her arms out, reenacting the epic tale of Pierre, Morris, and the Fight for Stardew Valley. She hadn’t known a thing about it until the following morning when her parents were still gushing over the miracle of the Community Centre during breakfast. Her mother was all a-fidget, unable to stay still as she paced the floorboards then perched on a chair, to hopping out of the way as her father dished out hot hash browns from the skillet. Maru could hardly believe it until she went down the mountain to investigate for herself. She and Penny had wandered the various rooms and exclaiming over the change, which was really quite incredible.

“I can’t quite put my finger on it,” Penny had said, reaching out and resting her hand (in full spite of her spoken words) on the glossy, straight spines of the bookshelves in the reading corner. “But something makes me feel like this isn’t new. It’s just…restored, back to its original state. Yet it feels totally unused. Do you know what I mean?”

“Yeah,” Maru agreed, peering closely at the fireplace. The seven glittering stars filled her with a strange uneasiness. It was a very nice effect, to be sure. But Penny had picked up on it too - the feeling like this was just a little bit too unnatural. It confused her. Something had happened beyond the realm of what was explainable, and she didn’t like that.

Later on at dinner, her mother had mused aloud that perhaps it was all a lovely surprise from Gilly, who had been spotted darting in and out of the Centre for months. Maybe she had been privately fixing up the place from the inside out this whole time. Robin huffed loudly about how she, the town carpenter, should have been consulted on such a task - she would have kept the secret! - and Maru felt her heart slow with relief. That must be it. No sinister happenings at hand, just the town’s favourite (and only) weirdo farmer rushing around as usual.

Back in the present, Maru listened to Abigail’s excited chatter and wondered why she continued to be surprised at the strangeness of their valley. Hadn’t her adventures underground prepared her for anything at all? Maybe, maybe not. The monsters Abigail fought were just unique creatures. It was all biology. Perhaps her father would venture down and officially research them some day.

“Anyway,” Abigail gasped, wiping away a tear of laughter. “It’s by far the greatest thing my dad has EVER done in his life. I don’t know if he’ll ever top it, but it was totally worth it.”

“Aw, come on,” Maru said. Abigail glanced away and shrugged.

“Fine. But I mean that I finally saw something of myself in him, right? That feeling of…” Abigail looked down at her stomach and her fingers twitched. “Like when I’m fighting the monsters.”

They were both silent for a few seconds until Abigail glanced over at Maru, her cheeks pinking slightly. “N-never mind. How are those stompers fitting you?”

Maru wiggled her toes. They were encased in their newest reward from the mines - a pair of maroon, calf-length boots made of a material neither of them could identify. It was supple and gave easily when Maru had tugged the boots on, but certainly tougher and hardier than leather. After so long in the tundra boots, Maru was surprised how pleasant it was to have her feet feel cool instead. If this was the prize…

“We’re in for some hot temperatures,” she told Abigail. “Which makes a lot of sense to follow some cold ones.”

The level they were resting on was already a good indication of change. Instead of the brilliant, reflective ice of the previous floor, they were sitting on dark slabs of rough, crumbly stone. The walls were no longer smooth and well crafted, but jutted out here and there in lumpy blobs of earth, not brick. The lanterns on the wall flickered with an ominous red light that cast fierce, angular shadows from Abigail and Maru’s sitting forms.

Abigail stretched, causing her silhouette to grow. “Well, we made it to level 80 but there’s still time! Let’s see what lies in wait.” She reached over to grab her black and silver scabbard, then scrambled to her feet. Maru followed her down the ladder.

They hopped off the ladder into a warm, wet world. It seemed that the floor above was something of a transition level - Maru’s new boots left easily shifted tracks in the fine black soil. She bent down and brushed her finger against it. It felt ashy, almost like powder. Maru straightened up, taking off her jacket and stuffing it into her backpack. She could feel the humidity gathering on the bridge of her nose where her glasses trapped the heat in. The rest of their surroundings confirmed her suspicions: the cavern was dotted with large purple ferns that curled outward. They fell easily to Abigail’s sword. Maru watched her friend, whose hair coincidentally matched the leaves, and wondered what the plants did for water. She reached over and rolled up one long leaf for investigative purposes. It felt velvety and delicate, and Maru suddenly imagined an ancient swamp filled with such vegetation. It was like they had fallen through time.

She pulled out her pickaxe and approached the nearest cluster of rock. It was so tempting to stop and examine everything - Maru knelt beside a funny-shaped ore gleaming in the hazy lantern light. Gone were the rough, angular stones of the ice and earth levels, here they were smooth and looked like swirled drips and drops of milkshake or whipped cream, save for the fierce red sheen. Maru lifted her pickaxe and smashed one open. She snatched up the nuggets inside, gasping to herself.

Gold! It wasn’t that much, but still…three gold ores glittered there, the largest about the size of a hazelnut. They were smooth and beautiful. Maru’s heart raced. Five minutes in this new level and already there were amazing discoveries to be unearthed. She grabbed her pickaxe.

Soon, her backpack was crammed with treasures. Gold was abundant here, either popping out of regular-looking rocks or winking at her from afar. The most promising had shining specks embedded in the surface. Some of the soft, gloopy-looking rocks had turned out round geodes. Maru was strongly reminded of dragon eggs as she carefully pried one from the stone. She could have sworn that it felt hot to the touch, as if something was burning inside. But the most amazing and exciting discovery was all the minerals. Maru only targeted the most interesting looking rocks now, with the search for the next ladder being a much lower priority in this new playground. Some of the shining nodes had yielded not gold, but precious gems such as emeralds and rubies. Maru had gingerly stuffed them deep into her backpack, beneath her folded-up jacket, to keep them safe.

“Hey, Maru!”

She had been so engrossed in her mining explorations that she had tuned out the sounds of Abigail meeting her new matches. The slimes here were far more aggressive than they had ever encountered before, but so was Abigail. She dodged and slashed at them with a skilled hand, and didn’t even flinch as blood red lava bats came screeching into view. Maru straightened and saw her friend skipping over the rocks and ferns, waving something in her hand that looked like a crystallised flame.

“What’s this, you think?” The girls bent their heads over her find. Maru recalled a page in her father’s old geology textbook.

“Fire quartz. You’re only supposed to find it beside hot lava.”

Abigail’s face lit up. “You mean…the mountain’s a volcano? We’re inside a volcano!”

Maru winced, not sharing the same excitement. “Uh, I hope not. Because that would be…”

“Super awesome,” breathed Abigail.

Maru had been thinking of the word ‘dangerous’, but the dreamy look on Abigail’s face told her that such an observation would be duly ignored. “Be careful, alright?”

Abigail nodded, then held the fire quartz to her lips. Maru sighed and shook her head. After that first time, Abigail had continued taking bites out of her mineral finds every once in a while, even after Maru had made it clear how weird it looked. Of course a crystal that was created within molten rock would seem irresistibly delicious. Just as Abigail opened her mouth, Maru spied a movement behind her.

“What’s that?” she yelped, pointing. Abigail dropped the fire quartz and whirled around. Something about knee high came rushing towards them swiftly. Maru would have thought it was a regular grey boulder were it not for the grubby dirt-brown feet that protruded from beneath it. Abigail, with her sword, swerved to the left as the creature lunged, and Maru caught a glimpse of two amber eyes glowing within what looked to be a crack in the rock.

“Hey!” Abigail stumbled backwards as the thing rammed against her legs. Maru saw bruises bloom almost instantly upon her shins. “Cut that out!” Abigail gave it a heavy whack with her broadsword. Unlike most of the monsters they had fought, this one didn’t bounce back, but continued chasing Abigail. She tripped over one of the ferns and scrambled up one of the bigger boulders, blocking and slashing the whole time. Finally, since she was out of range, Abigail thrust the tip of the blade deep into the crack and twisted it swiftly. Maru saw the glowing amber eyes fade away as the creature’s shell shattered into pieces.

“That’s a new one,” panted Abigail from her perch. She sat down and carefully touched the black and blue spots on her legs.

“Here.” Maru walked over and tossed the bottle of tonic up to her. As Abigail dressed her wounds, Maru crouched down beside the remains of the Metal Head, the first term that had popped into her mind. She had never claimed to be very creative with names. The fragments were too small and sharp to pick up, but she definitely saw something within the wreckage. Maru reached over and picked it up. It pulsed and shimmered, comfortingly warm to the touch…like sunshine. Maru heard her breath stop as she stared into the beautiful light. A swirling sphere of pure essence, somehow gaseous and solid at the same time, almost like a miniature solar system of pinpricks of light orbiting around each other. She had no idea what it actually was, but she knew she had to have it. Wrenching her eyes away from the tantalising sight, Maru opened a side pocket of her backpack and carefully slid the thing inside of it, zipping up tightly.

Abigail stood up again, her legs dotted with the beige cream. “Okay, done. Thanks as always, Maru. Say, have you ever played the Solarian Chronicles?”

Maru rolled her eyes. Even if she suddenly one day decided she did want to join in on her brother’s intense fantasy games, she didn’t think he’d ever let her.

“Geez, just asking.” Abigail hopped off the boulder. “I only mention that because it just occurred to me that our whole set up is like a scenario. In the game, there are three main roles. Warrior-” She indicated herself. “Then healer-” She pointed at Maru. “And wizard. That’s the only one we’re missing.”

Maru shrugged. “Then I guess this is like real life Solarian Chronicles, because you can’t actually be a wizard. Magic isn’t real.”

Abigail raised an eyebrow at her. “I can’t believe you’re still in denial after all we’ve seen-”

“I was raised to be a woman of science, so I’ll believe when I get proof.” Maru didn’t want to talk about this anymore. And bringing up the Solarian Chronicles was basically bringing Sebastian into the conversation. Maru couldn’t help but feel a pang of envy. It seemed like Abigail was clearing up her issues with her parents. Why couldn’t she find a way to reach out to her brother?

Abigail hefted her sword slowly, flipping the hilt around in her hand. “Okay, okay, I’ll shut up about it.”

Maru looked down, feeling ashamed. She hadn’t meant to sound so curt. She’d just had enough of how everything had taken a strange turn, lately. “I-”

“Sh,” Abigail interrupted. Her shoulder muscles tensed as she gripped the sword, looking around warily.

Maru clutched her pickaxe and concentrated. She couldn’t see or hear anything, but Abigail was staring round a corner of the cavern, frowning at the distant shadowy crevices. “What? What was that?”

“Abigail, I don’t know what you’re…” Maru started, but was left behind as Abigail walked towards the perceived noises.

Maru could only follow along, the ores and gems in her backpack clinking together quietly. She adjusted the straps the best she could while in motion, measuring the ends with how far they extended from her sides. It was better to keep them short and the pack higher up on her back to make it easier on the shoulders. They had only been here for perhaps twenty minutes, but she was already running out of space. Perhaps it would be better to clear out some of the far more common materials. She didn't really need coal since it was easy to make from the scrap wood at home-

“MARU!”

She heard the sizzle just in time, and felt the heat nearly graze her face as she dived to the ground. Maru rolled over as the burning green lights appeared again, shooting out of the shadows in graceful, terrifying arcs. Maru crawled to her knees. The other lights had disappeared as quickly as they came, but she noticed several plants and stones silently disintegrating in wisps of green smoke.

“Stay back!” Abigail warned her, savagely swinging her sword like a baseball bat and sending one of the mysterious projectiles flying back towards whence it came.

The girls froze in shock when from the depths of the mine, they heard a deep roar. The dark shadows suddenly shot back, as if they were sucked down a pin-sized hole in the centre. Maru, crouched behind a pile of rubble, swallowed a scream as they squeezed back outward, reached out and grabbed at the walls with smoky, finger-like tendrils. More of the swirling darkness pushed itself out and reformed before them: sentient shadow bound to a vaguely humanoid form. The idea that it lacked substance disappeared as it advanced upon them, with the ground shaking with each step. The tiny green lights reappeared around its “face” - an ancient tribal mask that floated within the shadow. It was crudely shaped of clay, complete with horns and streaked with reddish dirt save for two defining characteristics: spaceless eye holes encircled by glittering rubies, and two emeralds at either end of the empty gash for a mouth.

Abigail stood before it with her sword. She looked so small. But as the monster approached, hurling the green flames yet again, she countered with three rapid-quick parries in succession. Maru caught a glimpse of her friend’s face as she whirled around the danger: brows furrowed, mouth set, courage and focus etched in every crease.

The monster stumbled as its own attack caught it square in the mask. The growls sent shudders through Maru’s insides, but Abigail rushed forward and began hacking away with her sword. _No, you're too close!_ Maru’s body felt numb, but her mind raced with panic. She was too far away from behind the rocks. And if she threw any bombs, they would surely hit Abigail too.

The motionless mask simply made it all the more unnerving when the monster’s irritated growling turned into full on snarls. A shadowy arm shot out and grabbed Abigail around the waist, and she dropped her sword in surprise as she was hoisted off the ground. The creepy mask tilted up towards Abigail, whose own face was pale and peaky, her eyes growing wide and worried as the other arm glowed steadily brighter with green light. Maru cried out and blindly dashed towards them from behind the rocks. As her new boots thudded against the ground, spraying up the black dirt, she saw the green lights spin towards Abigail. She saw Abigail’s expression transform from fear to pure fury, then- then-

Screaming. Maru tripped and doubled over in pain, covering her ears from the piercing, keening shrieks that filled the cavern. She couldn’t see what was happening, her sight was blocked by splotches of neon green and flaming purple spots blossoming over each other. Then, the clashing colours disappeared as soon as they came and Maru saw Abigail falling from the grip of the shadow, her arms faintly glowing mauve, and the shadows were rapidly retreating back into their invisible, tiny hole. Maru heaved herself up and ran over to Abigail’s body lying on the ground.

“Abigail? Abigail!” She tore her backpack off and dumped out its contents, ignoring the lumps of gold and precious gems that rolled away. Maru snatched up the tonic and pried Abigail’s mouth open, begging her to ingest it, to regain her health, to be okay. After 20 agonising seconds, Abigail's eyelids finally fluttered open.

“Wow,” is all Abigail said, weakly.

“Ohh…” Maru gasped, sitting back and slumping. Her eyes stung, she hadn’t realised that. “What was it?”

“No idea,” Abigail said. “But uh, can I stay lying down for a while? I don’t think I can move anything just yet. Can you get my sword?”

Maru silently rose to her feet and trudged over to where the sword lay. She was about to reach for the hilt when her heart suddenly skipped a beat. It was back! Right there - wait. Maru held the sword close to her as she approached the strange object. It didn’t seem to be sentient, thank Yoba. But it was unmistakably alive, and made of the same shadows as the scary creature they had just encountered. Maru knelt beside it. It looked like a quivering patch of smoke, also pulsing and swirling like the other thing she had found earlier - but instead of warmth and light, Maru felt a chill crawl down her back. It was no larger than a cookie, but she felt like she was staring into the depths of a miniature black hole - there was something mysterious, sinister, unworldly about this. Almost the absence of a world. A void.

She shocked herself by carefully picking the thing up and carrying it back to Abigail and her backpack. Abigail had taken the rest of the tonic and had pulled herself up into a sitting position again. She took back the sword and kissed its forte in relief. “Hey, whatcha got there?”

Maru held the object out wordlessly. Abigail’s face grew slack with surprise and fascination as the darkness twitched and shuddered in Maru’s hand.

“Cool,” she breathed. Maru slipped it into another backpack pocket, the one opposite of the other mystery substance. “When you know what it is, tell me right away.”

“Of course,” Maru said. She kept quiet though as she repacked her bag. Abigail filled in the silence with chatter and smiles, bragging about her victory and voicing silly, far-fetched theories of what kind of monster it could be, but Maru felt that it was a little too performative. The way this monster had retreated from Abigail reminded her a lot of what happened last time. Abigail seemed to be hiding something…

As Maru helped her friend reach the ladder, it was clear that Abigail herself was still shaken. Her voice wavered, her eyes darted around, and her arms still trembled. Whatever she was trying to hide, she didn’t seem to understand it very much either.

“Enough excitement for the day, huh?” Abigail panted as they got back into the elevator. “Maybe we should take a break?”

“Sure.”

“Just from the mines though. Let's do some research. I’ll check out the library. You do your cool science thing.” Abigail wiggled her fingers vaguely, as if she assumed Maru’s version of research was going to be significantly different from reading a book. Maru decided not to burst that bubble. “We’ll report back to each other ASAP if we find anything cool!”

“Yes, definitely.” They emerged from the mines into the cold outdoors. Maru breathed in the familiar crisp smell of nature in winter. Water on the lake lapped gently, owls hooted distantly in the trees, and she could even smell a hint of Linus’s campfire along the wind. It was good to be back in the real world.

“Thanks for taking care of me, Maru. I owe you my life multiple times now.”

“Don’t mention it,” Maru said automatically. When their paths diverged in front of 24 Mountain Road, she couldn't help herself. Maru turned to Abigail. The moon shone over her friend’s pale face. There was still excitement and eagerness reflected in it. Maru thought of the multiple emotions it had run through in the past hour alone. “Be careful, okay?”

“Okay. I promise.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am going to try to be semi-regular with updates again, but maybe not as regular as you may think. Twice a month at best, once a month at worst. Feel free to give an irritated shout if this is unachieved. And as always, thank you very much for reading!


	11. Maru

The carpenter shop closed by 5 PM each day. Maru waved goodbye to her mother from her perch on the stool behind the counter. She reached up and turned the rotary dials of the shop’s wall phone, watching the numbers spin back each time she lifted her finger. The heavy, plastic receiver felt smooth and cool against her cheek as she listened to the ringing.

“Hello?” came a female voice.

“Uh, hi. Is Abigail there?”

“Abigail…” The speaker sounded suspicious. “May I ask who is calling?”

“Tell her it’s Maru.”

“Oh! Maru!” Caroline’s tone changed completely. “Why, of course. I didn’t realise you and Abby were friends!”

Maru tucked her knees up and listened to the indecipherable but undoubtedly excited murmurs of Caroline fussing with her daughter. Static crackled as Abigail’s voice came onto the line.

“Hey, what’s up?”

“Hey,” Maru said. “So I spent this morning checking out those substances, the ones we found yesterday. Ran a few tests, put them under the microscope.”

“And?”

“And…” Maru’s fingers played with the tight curls of the phone cord. How was she going to explain this? “It’s incredible. I’ve never seen anything like it. So the first one-”

“The shiny one, right?”

“Yes! The solar essence. It’s like…a galaxy. In miniature.” Maru closed her eyes. She had found it difficult to fall asleep last night for the way the essence glowed right through the canvas pocket of her backpack. She’d transferred it into a tin jar, but in the morning when she picked it up, the metal was warm to the touch. Maru had the good sense to equip her microscope with a dark filter before peering at a sample with it, because what she saw dazzled her. There were glaring points of light in the midst of the softer glow of a glimmering cloud blossoming around it. It reminded Maru strongly of infant stars borne in the distant reaches of outer space. Bigger, older gas giants would collide and collapse into stardust, creating new celestial bodies in the process. Maru had stood at her microscope slack-jawed, watching what seemed to be the same thing through one eye. A minuscule slice of space itself.

“Wow,” Abigail’s voice came through the phone after she’d done her best - and failed - to describe it accurately. “I’d love to see that.”

“You can if you come over some time.”

“Maybe I will!” Abigail sounded excited. “So what about the other one?”

Maru shuddered. She had finally wrenched herself away from the solar essence to investigate the other substance. That had been significantly less wonderful, though she would admit that it was every bit as interesting. First, Maru had tried to test it for chemical reactions by dripping certain solutions onto the essence. Nothing seemed to happen, until Maru realised that the thing was absorbing all that touched it. Even sulfuric acid, which Maru had been very careful with, didn’t do anything. When she had mustered the courage to put a little under the microscope, she hadn’t lasted long. There was just darkness, as solid as it looked on the outside.

The thing never stopped moving and was blacker than pitch. After she had tested the different solutions on it, Maru had been nervous about picking it up, but it had sat in her palm like a handful of dark smoke, leaving trails of shadow as she had carefully transferred it into a beaker. It was cool as the solar essence had been warm, and though it seemed solid, it weighed almost nothing. Maru could barely feel it. Come to think of it, it was like her hands went numb.

All she could conclude was that it was exactly what it looked like: a piece of darkness. The essential essence of a void. Void essence.

“But the creepiest thing is…” Maru rubbed her hand against her pants leg, as if she needed to confirm that her nerves were all working again. “It almost feel alive. I’m not sure but…but maybe it’s actually part of that monster, that thing you fought.”

There were a few seconds of quiet. Maru knew that Abigail was thinking of the shadow monster, reaching out with its curling fingers of smoke. She remembered the ancient mask with its glittering gemstones bobbing on top of the pulsing darkness and shuddered, pressing the phone receiver into her cheek.

“Yeah…you’re probably right,” Abigail said slowly. “I bet belongs to the monster too.”

Maru heard herself breathe in sharply. She no longer wished to keep the void essence. It was just two rooms away, sealed in its beaker in the laboratory. What was she going to do with it?

It was as if Abigail read her mind. “Okay, I’ve got an idea. You free tomorrow night? Come over to my place. We’ll find out if it’s the monster or not. And what the monster is.”

“How?”

“Don’t worry about it.” Excitement tinged Abigail’s voice again. “I have a plan. Wow, this is awesome! See you tomorrow!”

Maru sat in the shop silently as she heard the click of Abigail hanging up, and the drone of the line going dead.

 

* * *

 

The following evening, Maru swallowed her dinner, bid farewell to her parents, and set off for Abigail’s. She was very familiar with the General Store - after all, she was Pelican Town born and raised. The windows still glowed with light, the stained glass ones fronting the small chapel of Yoba casting rainbow shadows over Maru’s face as she passed by.

A bell softly sounded as she pushed open the front door.

“Sorry!” Pierre’s head poked out from between shelves. “We’re closed! But don’t worry, now that Pierre’s General Store is the remaining retailer of Pelican Town, we will remain open each day, even on Wed-”

“Oh, erm, I’m here to see Abigail.”

Pierre blinked. “…Oh. I see. Well, come right in!” He guided her past the sacks, boxes and bottles lined up neatly in their rows to an unassuming doorway in the corner. Maru wandered down a clean, wood panelled hallway to a large open room. There was a fireplace in one corner with a few cushions scattered around it, but it was otherwise empty. She remembered her mother’s weekly exercise sessions were held at the General Store. Maru had occasionally wondered how this could be possible, but this suddenly made more sense. She stood awkwardly in the centre of this enormous room until footsteps echoed down another distant corridor.

“Hello?” Caroline emerged from round a corner, wiping her hands on a dishcloth. Her eyes widened from beneath her wispy, dark green fringe. “Maru!”

“Hi,” Maru said. “Abigail invited me over. I hope that’s okay.”

“Of COURSE it's fine!” Caroline’s voice nearly squeaked from enthusiasm on the second syllable. “You’re ALways welcome here. What do you and Abigail have planned tonight?”

“Er, I’m not that sure. I told her about my research last night and she said she had some ideas…”

Caroline nodded rapidly, lines crinkling around her eyes in delight. “You’re doing research together? WONderful. Abby never told me that she was doing lab work with you. I’m so happy that she’s finally pushing herself towards more ambitious goals.”

Maru was confused. What was this lady talking about? Burrowing into the earth in pursuit of monsters didn’t seem to be something Caroline might approve of. She wasn’t left puzzling over this for long when there was a loud noise from behind her. Maru turned to see Abigail leaning out of a doorway, her pale arm hanging off the silver doorknob and face grimacing.

“Mom! Why didn’t you tell me Maru arrived? Please don’t tell me you’ve been gushing all over her. It’s embarrassing.”

“I wasn’t all over her,” Caroline said quickly, shooting Maru a sheepish smile. “We were just making small talk.”

Abigail rolled her eyes. “Well, we’ve got a lot of work to do, so…”

“Of course!” Caroline immediately began to shoo Maru towards her daughter. “I won’t get in your way.”

Abigail smirked and slipped Maru a wink once her mother wasn’t looking. “She’s so excited that the town genius is in her house, we don’t have to tell her that this isn’t exactly an academic project, right?”

This bedroom was bursting with personality - Abigail’s personality. It was very large, floored with the same hardwood paneling as the rest of the house. A computer and its desk stood directly to Maru’s right. Before her was a wall shelf of books, mainly fantasy novels featuring supernatural superheroes in dramatic, brooding poses on the covers. A large painting of a futuristic alien world hung above a chest of drawers, and a small rodent scurried furiously around a wheel in the large tank sitting beside it.

Abigail reached in and scooped it up, ignoring the little legs still pumping. “Meet David! He’s my guinea pig. Can’t ever stop moving. The day this wheel stops spinning is when cows learn to fly.”

Maru frowned. Guinea pigs weren’t known for running in wheels - in fact, Maru was sure that they weren’t supposed to. And the little critter crawling around Abigail’s hands was far too small for a guinea pig, too thin with a too long tail…

“Abigail, I don’t think that’s a guinea pig. It looks more like a gerbil.”

Abigail stared at her blankly. “But I’ve been calling him David the Guinea Pig for years.”

“I’m sorry, but it’s not…”

It was Abigail’s turn to frown. “He’s. A. Guinea.”

She turned her back and deposited David the Gerbil-Guinea back into his tank, where he immediately scrambled back to his wheel. Maru decided this fight was not worth pursuing.

It looked like the room had been pasted with dark blue wallpaper, but Abigail’s force of personality had yet again transformed it, much like it had done (mentally, at least) to David’s species. Drawings of fish had been scribbled onto the wall with permanent markers in all colours, with shiny silver ink outlining the bubbles around them. Bright green electrical tape had been smoothed onto the walls as angular seaweed. An old television monitor sat right on the floor in the opposite corner with a jumble of wires snaking out of its ports to a video game console sitting on the side. Brightly coloured posters of cartoon characters had been tacked above it, their corners peeling away. Abigail’s bed, unmade of course, was a few feet away. Maru noticed a glimpse of silver and black hidden beneath it carefully obscured by a fallen blanket.

Abigail strode over to the last corner. It held nothing, save for a faded, beige rectangle on a purple rug. Numbers and letters were printed in bold along its surface. Two fat candles in glass jars flanked it. They were already a bit misshapen and lumpy from previous use, their stunted wicks burnt black.

Abigail plopped down on the rug, clicking a gas cigarette lighter repeatedly. She lit the candles. “See this? It’s called a spirit board. Have you ever used one?”

“No way,” Maru said immediately. She backed up a little towards the bed.

“Don’t worry,” Abigail said. “All we’re gonna do is ask some questions. Turn off the lights, and take the thing out.”

Maru reluctantly sat down and reached into her backpack. She carefully took out the void essence, which pulsed ominously inside its glass beaker. Nothing changed when she set it beside one of the candles. It seemed like any light that fell upon it disappeared, sucked away. Maru was again reminded of a black hole.

The tiny twin flames lit up Abigail’s face from below. Maru only saw the excited grin and blue eyes bright with eagerness, framed by the dramatic silhouette of her eyelashes. “Now, put your hands on the planchette with me.”

Maru felt herself obeying, gingerly reaching out and resting her fingertips on the wooden marker. They looked at each other in the flickering candelight.

“If there’s a spirit here with us,” Abigail whispered, “They will guide us toward a…”

She paused and gasped - a little theatrically, Maru thought. But the wooden planchette glided beneath their hands around the spirit board, its pointed end spinning slowly towards a letter.

“Look, it’s moving! The first letter is Y…O…U…”

_You._

The room plunged into darkness. Maru’s heart stopped. She felt cold, clammy fingers clutch at hers. She heard Abigail’s short, hurried breaths as she fumbled with the lighter with her other hand. The sparks that sputtered out briefly illuminated what was happening - Maru leaned away in horror as the beaker began to rock back and forth, clattering on the wooden floor. The essence within had turned into a miniature vortex, undulating and growing with each whirl.

“Ha!” Abigail finally got a flame and hurriedly lit the candles again. Maru squeaked in fear as a being of shadow and smoke unfolded itself out of her glass beaker, limbs unfurling and grasping with translucent claws at Abigail’s wall and light fixtures. It was back. The monster from the mines. It hovered over them, grinning with its crude, haunting face - two blank holes for eyes and a gash for the mouth. The glass beaker, now vacant, rolled beneath Abigail’s bed.

 _You_ , it rasped again.

Maru looked over at Abigail. Abigail’s back was straight, but her eyes widened as the spirit drifted towards her.

_You, who wield the arcane lights. How dare you break treaty with the Shadow People?_

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Abigail said quietly. Her facial expression didn’t change, but the hand holding Maru’s trembled.

_The Elemental Wars have long been finished. We agreed to retreat to the caverns below to end the bloodshed. It was you, magus, who cast the seal of peace. And you break it by entering into our domain and attacking my kin? I know that aura, magus. I remember the heat, the burn!_

The spirit rushed forward, its empty eyes glinting in the candlelight, and its mouth screwing up into a furious snarl. Maru squeezed her fingers tight around Abigail’s, too horrified to move otherwise. Abigail stared up into the oncoming creature as it made to envelop her. The shadow grew larger and larger, filling up Abigail’s room.

Then suddenly, it stopped.

_You are not the magus._

“No,” Abigail said. “I’m not. I don’t even know what a magus is.”

The shape began to shrink back. Maru didn’t let go of Abigail’s hand as the darkness reshaped itself into a vaguely humanoid shape, albeit still very tall. A little wisp of curling smoke adorned the spirit’s head. It stared down at Abigail in vague amusement.

 _But that aura…_ The image of the spirit began to tremble. _Oho, I see how it is. Well, well. I didn’t think this would be. He never seemed the type._

“What type? What aura?” Abigail demanded. “Who’s he?”

The spirit’s mouth stretched just a little too far. Maru shivered at the sight of its smile. _You won’t find the answer in our domain. Not beneath the surface. But far. To the west. To the tower…_

“What?” Abigail nearly shouted. "Tell me!"

Suddenly, the shadow broke apart. Maru recognised the familiar swirling shape of the void essence once again, manifesting right in the spirit’s heart. It seemed to dissolve into the vortex’s void, siphoned inwards like water swishing down a drain, the darkness sucked away. The last thing Maru saw was the spirit’s creepy smirk before it too disappeared into the void.

And then, that too vanished. Into thin air. It was just Maru and Abigail, clutching each other’s hands over a still spirit board, two candles burning low beside them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As promised, I deliver on acknowledging the game's confusing identification of David as a guinea pig.


	12. Abigail

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I felt like I was a little bit on a roll from last time, so this LONG chapter came about surprisingly quickly! Hooray!

Abigail didn’t move. She felt like she couldn’t move. Maru was still holding her hand, saying something, but Abigail couldn’t hear her.

_You who wield the arcane lights…the heat, the burn._

She finally looked down at her arms. They were pale and clean, not a trace of…it. There hadn't been any time to get angry. But now, Abigail felt something ignite in the pit of her stomach again. What were the Elemental Wars? Who were the Shadow People? Who was HE? The magus, whatever that meant. Abigail’s breathing slowed as the spark growled in her belly, her questions slowly fanning it into a flame. What was going on? Would anything ever make any sense? Everything was so frustrating, and it was because people kept on holding things back from her.

“Hey, Abigail!”

She blinked, and was momentarily blinded by the light that flooded the room. Maru stood by the wall, her finger on the switch. The candles smoked lazily before her. The spirit board, motionless. Abigail sucked in a much-needed breath and looked around at the familiar sights of her bed, her games, her posters and David, his little legs a blur along the wheel.

Maru crouched back down beside her. “You okay?”

Abigail couldn’t feel anything in her stomach anymore. “Yeah.”

Maru nodded, light reflecting green along the lens of her glasses. “Alright. You weren’t responding to anything for about five minutes. You just stared into space.”

“Sorry. I was just…thinking. About what the spirit said.”

Maru shuddered. “Oh, Yoba. That was…I never thought…I don’t know…”

As much as Abigail was pleased to see Maru finally at a lost for words. She would make her a believer yet! For now, they were in the same boat. The girls fell into silence again as they pondered the spirit’s words.

“Not beneath the surface.” Abigail suddenly realised that she did understand one part of the cryptic message. “To the west. The tower.”

Maru’s forehead creased. “What tower?”

Abigail slowly stood up, and Maru joined her. “In Cindersap Forest, there’s a tower. Just north of the bridge to the Flower Dance meadow.”

Maru’s eyes widened. “Really? I guess I never noticed. Cindersap is definitely to the west though.”

“Exactly.”

They tidied up quietly, both still unsettled by the spirit’s appearance. Abigail scooped up the candles and dumped them into a drawer before dragging her rug back to where it normally lay in front of her dresser. She didn’t feel like touching the spirit board, at least not for a while. Maru fetched her empty beaker and put it into her backpack. Abigail walked her to the door of the General Store.

Maru put her hand on the handle, but stopped to look at Abigail. “So…Cindersap Forest, then.”

“Right.” Abigail did her best to keep her voice steady. “Let’s meet in front of Sam’s, his house is right by it. When?”

“I’m not free until after dinner tomorrow. So 8?”

“Sounds good.” Abigail started to feel better. Answers would be found. They were making a plan of attack. They were taking action!

Maru seemed more like herself too, discussing details in a factual way. “And I’ll bring the other essence, just in case we get the chance to learn more about it too.”

“Great idea!” Abigail hugged her friend warmly. “It’s an interesting tower, I promise. Guess I’ll finally get to go inside. See ya tomorrow.”

Maru smiled and waved as the bell tinkled. Abigail walked back through the empty store, feeling confident. More adventures, but above ground this time! She knew that together, they were unstoppable. What was a hike through the woods in the dark? They had slain monsters.

She almost knocked over a figure waiting behind a shelf. Abigail yelped as her mother grasped her forearm.

“Abby, do not go to the forest tomorrow night. I forbid it.”

Abigail’s mouth dropped open. “You were eavesdropping on me and Maru!”

“It was not intentional, I was walking by and heard you two!” Caroline snapped. Abigail didn’t believe it for a second. “If I’d known you’d already been to that tower, I wouldn’t have given you as much freedom as I so generously have…”

“What freedom? You’re always breathing down my back!” Abigail trembled. “And what do you know about that tower? Tell me!”

“It is dangerous!” Caroline’s breathing became shallow, and her fingers fluttered before her. Abigail didn’t know if her mother meant to grab her, push her, or simply waver back and forth in supplication. “There’s nothing to be seen, or heard there. Just take my word for it.”

“Your word means nothing to me,” Abigail snarled. “How can I trust you if you’ve never mentioned it before? There’s something there, isn’t it? Something important! I knew it!”

You can’t go!”Caroline’s voice cracked on the last word as she clutched the side of a shelf to steady herself. Her eyes narrowed almost to squints, so Abigail couldn’t see whether there were tears in them or not.

“I’m going to go,” Abigail said. “You can’t stop me.”

Caroline wilted. “I suppose not.”

Abigail stared. That was not the answer she had expected. The tension in her arms and back suddenly felt too tense, too stiff. Her mother withdrew herself from the room, retreating into the corridor like a sad, fearful wave receding off the sand into the sea. Caroline wore the expression of shame well. Abigail saw it rarely.

She stayed amongst the shop stock for a few minutes, feeling shaken.

* * *

 The next day, Abigail avoided her mother. It seemed that Caroline had the same notion, because the house at the back of the General Store was oddly quiet. Abigail didn’t have her door knocked on and opened by her mother even once. Pierre was busy tending to the store. The regular crowd of exercisers trooped through the corridor and assembled in the common room, but Caroline kept her distance, huddling with Jodi and Marnie and flashing stretched, strained smiles at them during conversation. Abigail saw it all when she stole into the kitchen for lunch.

It was weird. She didn’t know how to make of it. Perhaps Abigail should have felt bad that she was getting the silent treatment, but she also couldn’t help feeling relieved. The peace was so refreshing. And now, nobody was going to stop her from meeting Maru by the forest.

Maru was already there at 8, waiting by Sam’s mailbox. She wore her puffy snow jacket and beanie as usual, along with her backpack and the tundra boots. Abigail was in her regular tunic and leggings. Maru took off her glasses and wiped the snowflakes off of them as Abigail approached.

“Do you think we can make it through this weather?” she asked, pushing them back up the bridge of her nose.

“We’ll be fine,” Abigail answered. “It’s not that much.” The flakes were falling steadily though, so the girls marched westward to fulfill their fates.

Abigail liked Cindersap Forest. It felt like a magical place. For a while, it didn’t feel that much different than town with the large and looming buildings of Marnie’s ranch and the cosy green cottage that belonged to Leah. But once they were past the path to CiderCakes Farm, they were in the wild. Pine trees grew abundant here, their branches still thick with dark green needles. Twigs and stone littered the ground, causing the girls to pick their paths carefully. Abigail noticed the dark purple petals of the winter crocus as well as the blood red splash of holly and its spiked leaves. Every once in a while, the bushes rustled with small creatures trying to hide from them, and the shadows of soaring owls temporarily blotted out the moonlight. Abigail and Maru’s boots crunched on dead grass as they skirted the edge of the forest pond. The falling snow twirled like glitter in a globe before they landed on the water’s surface. Thin films of ice cracked easily with the smallest of movements.

Soon, the wall of an earthen cliff came into view. “This way,” Abigail said. They moved a little further south, rounding a bend…and there it was.

Abigail paused by the cliff. This was the closest she’d ever come. Wooden boards set into the earth formed a steep staircase towards a tall, cylindrical tower. It was about three storeys high, evidenced by arched windows that nestled between cracked stones, rendered bone white with frost. A pointed, shingled roof featured a spindly pipe that spewed out wispy smoke, more like steam, against the dark sky. Golden wind chimes hung from its edge, and a lizard weather vane creaked at the very top.

The girls looked at each other, then ascended the wooden staircase. It was damp from the fallen snow. They could see the door clearly now: tall, dark, old wood with deep scratches along its grain, a brass knob and smudged window panes separated by a round grille.

Something twitched from the depths of her belly. Abigail felt a fierce, invisible tug from the pit of her stomach. It tugged her towards the tower. In that moment, she really knew that her fate lay behind this old door. Abigail shivered. She wasn’t cold . She was never cold. And yet, shivers.

If Maru noticed, she didn’t comment. She inspected the scratches with a deep curiosity, then turned to Abigail. “Well…we’ve come this far, right?”

Abigail could only nod. So Maru reached out, put a strawberry-mittened hand on the knob, and the door swung in.

They crept into a large room. An enormous black cauldron simmered on coals directly to Abigail’s left. The liquid within was green and smelled foul. She saw books - heavy, leather and bark bound tomes with curled yellow pages - scattered across the floor. There was a rough wooden table with dirty dishes left on it, and an unlit fireplace stocked with wood. The place was already hot from the cauldron’s heat. The walls and floor were smoke-stained and dusty, as if the inhabitant was completely unaware of the concept of sweeping. In spite of this, Abigail spied a small alcove that, in comparison, was utterly pristine: sparkling glass tiles around an ebony pedestal. There was nothing on it, however.

She turned to point this out to Maru and saw her friend rigid, clutching at the straps of her backpack, mouth parted in awe at the last thing in the room. Abigail noticed, for the first time, that a section of the floor had been stripped of its wooden boards. Eight candles glowed from their positions on the flagstones. They had been perfectly placed at equal distance along the circumference of a white chalk circle. Within the circle itself, there were intricate designs and patterns that could only be, Abigail realised, the mark of sorcery.

They were in a sorcerer’s tower. A magus. A wizard.

This thought had barely processed in her head when there was a sudden noise. Abigail jumped and Maru squeaked. They had missed a plain-looking door beside the fireplace, and now it smacked open and a man strode towards them. He stopped short when he saw the girls, and the two parties stared at each other.

In Abigail’s novels, wizards were always old, skinny, and mysterious. This man was anything but that. Instead, Abigail met the eyes of a burly man with broad shoulders. He was dressed in sensible country clothes, denim trousers with a long sleeved shirt and a tunic tucked over it into his belt - the unusual fact being that the trousers and tunic were black, the belt was gold, and the shirt a deep fuchsia. A heavy traveller’s cloak hung from his shoulders, also attached with a golden clasp. The cloak didn’t seem exotic, just practical against the bitter cold of the Valley in midwinter. A battered black stetson, marked with a small golden sigil, perched on his head. He just looked like your typical country woodsman. Abigail was reminded more of a cowboy than a sorcerer.

There was one detail that nobody could miss. The wizard and Abigail stared at each other’s hair. Bright, bold, purple hair. It didn’t matter that one cascaded in loose curls and the other resembled a bearded tangle of fur. It was undoubtedly, the same hair.

Abigail felt faint. The nagging feeling worming around in her stomach had quickly metamorphosised into full grown moths. She barely registered Maru by her side, the first to speak.

“We’re so sorry for arriving unannounced, sir. But we hoped you could help us with something we found…”

The wizard slowly turned his head, his wide eyes finally focusing in on Maru as if he hadn’t realised she was there, too. He reached over and took the solar essence from her hands. A familiar expression crossed his face as he peered in. “Ahh, this is imbued with potent arcane energies. It’s very useful for my studies. I’m impressed. Thank you.” With a pass of his hand and a wave with his cloak, the solar essence disappeared.

He had a hoarse, raspy voice, as if he was not used to speaking with other people. At least, not other humans.

“But…what is it?” Maru asked.

The wizard waved his hand dismissively at her, glancing over at Abigail with curious regularity. “That is not for the uninitiated to be privy to. It takes years to understand the language and intricacies of the Elemental world. Mundane beings have no business with these materials.”

For the first time Abigail had known her, Maru actually seemed irritable. Angry, even. Her eyes narrowed and she glared openly at the wizard. Being denied knowledge was not a regular occurrence for Maru, Stardew Valley’s finest.

“We found it,” Maru said. “We found it inside the mountain. Both of us.”

The wizard arched a skeptical brow. Abigail felt it was only fair for her to speak up too. “We communed with a spirit. It told us to come here to this tower. So that’s what we did.”

His eyes widened even more at this statement. Abigail braced herself, but there was strange rumbling sound instead. It took her a few seconds to realise that the wizard was chuckling.

“Two girls who have communed with a spirit? Alright. You have my attention. Tell me what you know.”

Abigail let Maru retell their story. Her friend was honest and humble, giving Abigail the credit for defeating the monsters. The wizard perked up when Maru mentioned the spirit board, attributing this as Abigail’s idea again. A bemused smile appeared through his bushy beard.

When they got to the spirit’s message, he huffed out an irritated snort. “I am aware of that spirit. He is a shadow shaman, one of the elders of their kind. It took much coaxing and compromise on my part to bring them to satisfaction for the terms of the peace treaty of the Elemental Wars.” The wizard looked between the two of them. “What are your names?”

“I’m Maru,” Maru said.

“Abigail.”

The wizard turned to really inspect her. She held her breath as dark, intense eyes stared deep into hers. It was the longest three seconds Abigail had ever experienced. Finally, the wizard looked away.

“I am Rasmodius.” He inclined his head briefly. “This is my tower. Here, I study the arcane arts and observe the supernatural goings-on of this valley. I watch the barrier between the Elemental world and this one, keeping peace and balance amongst the magical races.” He glanced up again, fixing his gaze on Abigail. “You may not know me, but I do know you.”

Abigail’s stomach moths buzzed frantically, gripping her with dread. “How?”

“I have been observing the locals in secret.” Rasmodius stepped towards her. This didn’t surprise her one bit, but at her elbow, Maru started slightly. “Some are aware and ignore my presence, which is wise of them. Fewer have had the courage to approach. To seek me out, even. There was one, brave and bewitching, who did so two decades ago... Abigail, surely you understand me?”

Maru looked extremely confused. Her red hair swung back and forth along her jawline as she looked between Abigail and Rasmodius. "Huh? What is he talking about?"

Rasmodius held Abigail's gaze firmly. "I have long awaited for this day when I would be able to reveal myself. I always knew...that you were mine."

He held out his hand, palm faced upwards in an open, beseeching manner. Abigail leaned away from it. The air around her felt thick, pressing against her bare skin. She knew there must be some sort of magic in it, trying to keep her from running away so she would listen to his spiel. A spell, a charm, a trick of some sort - like whatever he’d put on her mother.

Her mother! Abigail remembered the previous night and the terror in Caroline’s eyes when she had discovered her daughter’s plans to reach this tower. She knew. She KNEW this whole time and had hidden it from Abigail.

And what about her father? Tears stung Abigail’s eyes as she pictured Pierre behind his store counter. Why did she have to learn this information now? Just as they were starting to understand each other. Abigail had thought she was finally seeing herself in him. Did he…? No. There was no way he knew. It would ruin him. Finding out would crush his spirit. He had become so much more jovial and lighthearted since the fall of Joja. How could Abigail do something like that to him?

It was all too much. Her head spun angrily, and the buzzing moths reached her ears as she felt the now familiar sensation erupting inside of her. She didn’t even try stopping the flames igniting along her skin, even as Maru yelped and backed away. The wizard’s eyes grew bright. Abigail didn’t know if it was from excitement or simply a reflection of the brilliant violet fire now licking her body, but she didn’t care. This tower was full of magic, damnit, it wasn’t like she could stop this if she wanted to.

Rasmodius’s voice trembled. “Wonderful! I knew it. You have inherited the gift! We share the same aura. Behold!”

He lifted a closed fist, then opened it with a flourish. Blinding sparks cascaded from his fingertips, then danced around his wrist to hop to the top of his head, circling his hat like tiny stars in orbit.

It was a show of highly skilled magic. Abigail had none of this control, she knew, but she didn’t care. She was furious. She was reeling. She was RAGE. Whatever she wanted, she had never wanted it in this way. How dare they. How dare they not tell her. What was she supposed to be now? Abigail raised her arm in the shimmering purple haze that surrounded her and shoved the - the fire at this man standing in front of her, the one who was ruining everything.

She barely heard Maru’s cry of surprise, but she did see Rasmodius stumble back as a fiery blast knocked him off balance. He recovered quickly though, not even hiding his triumphant grin. The wizard’s throaty murmurs slithered through it, finding her ears as hard as she tried to block it out.

“The magical arts are a long and tedious study. It is a lifelong devotion. And those who have the power are few and far between. I have spent all of today, my birthday - my 50th birthday, a half-century! - thinking of what legacy I shall leave after I am gone. I have been searching for someone to continue the work, to uncover more secrets of the lore. I have been waiting for an apprentice. Someday I will leave this mortal plane, but my arcane pursuits must continue. You have more than proven that you have the ability to do so. Take this chance! It is your destiny, Abigail!”

Abigail didn’t think. Everything was a reaction at this point. Even without a sword in her hand, she slashed her arm through the air with all her might. The wizard threw his arms up, conjuring a dark magenta shield of energy at the last moment.

“You’re a natural! You simply require proper training to control your talents. I can and will provide that gladly. Please, just trust me.”

“Never!” Abigail drew her arm back and pummeled the air. Just like her father - _Pierre_ \- had. Was she still allowed to call him that? But Rasmodius - _her father_ \- _NO_ \- stepped aside and avoided the attack easily. Her breath was growing ragged, her aim was way off course. Yoba, she didn’t know anymore. She didn’t know anything. She didn’t know.

“Abigail!”

“I DON’T KNOW!” she shouted, then whirled around. She couldn’t stand this place anymore, this warm, humid, sticky, swirling place. She wished she had never come here. She wished she had never spoken to the spirit. She wished she had never gone into the mines. She could hardly see for the dark violet tint that suffused her sight, but Abigail managed to find the scratched wooden door and wrenched it open. She barely registered the chilly smack of a cold, midwinter night, stumbling down the old stairs to the ground. Abigail floundered mindlessly towards the forest, kicking up half-melted globs and ruining the perfect blanket of white.

“Abigail!” Maru repeated, having followed her immediately. She was panting hard, slipping on the slush Abigail was leaving in her wake. “Wait-”

“NO! Leave me alone!” Abigail blindly waved a hand, but it was still glowing brightly. Maru squeaked in horror and dove into the drifts before the flames reached her.

Abigail stared at her hands. She hadn’t meant to - she didn’t think - she just needed…

She ran. She ran through the trees, not looking back once. Not at Maru, not at the broken tree branches and their trails of ashen lavender smoke, and certainly not at a lone, pale, tower that rose to the mysterious, mystical heavens.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Camp NaNoWriMo is coming up this weekend, and I am participating so I'm not sure when the next installment will be. So please enjoy this cliffhanger of sorts and thank you VERY much for your time and kind comments!


	13. Maru

Maru huddled beside a bush. The wind whistled sharply about her ears. She hurriedly brushed wet snow from her glasses and squinted in the direction where Abigail had disappeared. Her friend was already out of sight. All that was left was some purplish haze rapidly dissipating into the wintry night. The trees helped obscure Abigail’s path with their dark trunks and thick needles.

Maru remained where she was, her ragged gasps gradually lengthening. The frigid air felt almost painful in her lungs, but it was far better than the smoke and smells in the wizard’s lair. Maru chanced a glance back up the cliff. The stone tower remained still and silent. If she didn't know any better, she would have thought it empty and abandoned.

Imgaes came flooding back and she immediately wanted to run. Instead, she carefully drew herself up to her feet. Shouldering her backpack more securely, Maru pulled the brim of her beanie down over her eyebrows and began to walk away from the tower. One foot after the other. A steady and deliberate pace.

There were too many thoughts spinning around her head. She let her feet go on autopilot and walked aimlessly amongst the pine. The snow crunched softly under her tundra boots. Maru remembered the first time she’d set eyes on them. 50 levels underground. It felt like ages ago, but it had only been a week. And the first time she and Abigail had met in the mines - two weeks. Had they really come this far in a mere two weeks? Because if she made that three, she would be back to a Maru who would have never even dreamt of talking to Abigail, let alone travel to a mysterious tower in the woods. But here she was now, walking through Cindersap Forest in the dead of night. All because of Abigail.

Maru hunched her shoulders against the rustle in the boughs above her head. The words of the wizard tumbled around her brain in a dizzy whirl. He had implied…no, straight up declared that he was Abigail’s dad. Whoa. Maru couldn’t help scrunching her face into a cringe. She had felt like such an intruder. It wasn’t her place to witness such a moment. Abigail’s wide-eyed gaze of disbelief floated up before her.

Maru shivered at the sound of a faint, lonely howl echoing in the distance. Poor Abigail. What ever could have possessed the wizard to drop this bombshell on her - in a first meeting, no less? Maru felt her fingers clench, then released them with a sigh. She remembered his face too. It was too hopeful, too eager. She remembered his voice, hoarse and cracking. He probably didn’t talk to a lot of people. He was probably really lonely.

Wherever Abigail was, Maru prayed to Yoba that she would be okay.

Maru jumped at the sharp _crack_ of shattering ice. The river must be nearby. She slowed her walk to a stop. Where was she? Never having been much of a nature person, Maru was suddenly struck with deep regret that she had left her lantern on its nail by the mine door. There was moon and starlight above, but they simply cast long shadows. She was alone. She was lost.

Her heart stopped when the silence was ripped apart by heavy blows upon the packed earth. Twigs were snapping all at once, and she could hear the hard snorts and heavy panting of some creature rapidly approaching - Maru squeaked and threw up her hands over her face.

The ground finally stopped shaking. Maru peered up through her fingers at Farmer Gilly sitting astride her horse, staring down at her. She was wearing puffy blue earmuffs and a wool-lined jacket. A tidy stack of wood was lashed to her shoulders.

“Gilly!” Maru almost cried at the sight of a familiar face. Her farmer friend swung down from the saddle. A glow ring on her finger pooled a soft yellow circle of light around them, illuminating the horse’s chestnut coat. Everything felt so much better now. Maru laughed weakly as Gilly grasped her hand in concern. “I’m okay. Just far from home. Could you…?”

Gilly immediately offered a ride, helping Maru up onto the horse’s back with a one-handed boost. Gilly tied her collection of wood to the back of the saddle before hopping up to take the reins. They seemed to be near the edge of the valley. Maru swore that she could see the Gem Sea just beyond the trees. She just managed to seize the hem of Gilly’s jacket before they galloped away through the trees.

Leaving the forest was a simple affair. Gilly and her horse seemed to know the way very well, racing through the brush and across the flimsy wooden bridges with frightening nonchalance. They cut through CiderCakes Farm, the fields looking forlorn without their usual abundance of crops. From there, it was a short trip through the backwoods to Mountain Road, trotting past the railroad tracks and Linus’s little tent. Maru patted her pockets for house keys. At 11 PM, the doors were surely locked.

“Thank you so much,” she said to her friend. “I owe you one.”

Gilly looked at her for a moment before reaching into her jacket. She pulled out rich violet petals, then gave the crocus to Maru. The hue simply reminded Maru of the bursts of violence back in the woods, but she hid her feelings and smiled. “This is a super gift. Thank you.”

Gilly seemed pleased. She tapped her horse with the reins and waved just before disappearing down the path.

Maru let herself into the shop. Normally, she would have gone straight into her bedroom, but walking around the snow for an hour did things to your stomach. She needed to something to eat. The cold still hung upon her as she padded down the corridor, sneaking past her parents’ room. Demetrius’s snores could be heard right through the closed door.

Maru was so concerned with being quiet that she didn’t realise the kitchen light was already on until she was almost there. She walked through the entrance to face…Sebastian.

He was leaning against the counter in his old hoodie and black jeans, staring right at her. She stared back, snow melting off her shoulders and glasses steaming up in the warmth. Both too shocked to say anything, they stared until the kettle on the stove began to whistle. Sebastian reached over and switched off the hob.

“Why are you up?” he asked. It was the first time he had talked to her in…she didn’t even know.

“I was…um.” Her mind was too busy reeling from the fact they were conversing to properly concoct some excuse. “Wait, why are you up?”

Her brother shrugged. “Had to edit a video for a client. Rendering. It’ll take a while, so I figured to make some coffee.”

“Oh.” Maru could smell it now. The heady roast smell eased up her nose and into her growling stomach. Maru shrugged the backpack off her shoulders and flopped into one of the dining chairs, ignoring how Sebastian eyed her suspiciously. “Well. I was out. With…Abigail.”

She couldn't hide it - her voice cracked a bit when she mentioned Abigail. Something flickered in Sebastian's face, so she knew he noticed. Maru put her face in her hands and sighed. Ordinarily, she would have turned and fled to her room the moment they locked eyes. but this was no ordinary night. Maru could just wait until he had his caffeine before grabbing something from the fridge. Anyway, she needed a moment to rest.

She heard a soft _clunk_. Maru lifted her head to see a steaming mug of coffee sitting in front of her. Sebastian stepped back quickly, staring down his nose at her. Maru looked at the drink, then back at him.

“What’s up with Abigail?” he asked.

Maru carefully took the mug with both hands. “It’s…complicated.”

Then, the unthinkable happened: the floorboards scraped as Sebastian pulled out the chair opposite and plopped down. “Try me.”

Well, fine. Maru took a deep breath and started from the top. The very top, meaning the first night of winter when she and Abigail first entered the mines. She admitted to being mistrustful and scared. She recalled the night Abigail fainted and how she dragged her back up to the surface. She explained the reason for their team up and described the levels they worked through: swamp, darkness, ice, and jungle.

Sebastian was a good listener. At first, he simply stared with those dark, tired eyes in his pale face. They widened and narrowed accordingly as Maru listed the monsters they encountered. He leaned forward when she told him about discovering Abigail’s powers. His fingers grasped his coffee mug handle, whitening when Maru finally got to Abigail’s fight against the Shadow Shaman, and their consequent escapade with the spirit board.

When she paused for breath, Sebastian quietly got up and fetched a tin of cookies from a cupboard. He hadn’t interrupted once - he hadn’t said anything at all. Maru knew that he knew the story was far from over.

Slowly, she talked about tonight. How she and Abigail met earlier. How they found the tower. What they saw inside, and who was inside. Then, Maru repeated what the wizard said to Abigail.

Sebastian’s cookie sat untouched beside his coffee. His face looked paler than ever. “Holy shit.”

“Yup.” Maru’s throat felt dry from all this talking. She took a gulp of her now lukewarm coffee. It was dreadfully bitter. Of course Sebastian took his coffee black. She reached for a cookie.

He leaned back and ran shaking fingers through his hair. “Like…what the hell.”

“Yup.” The buttery shortbread was disappearing at an alarming rate. Maru wasn’t sure whether it was the hunger, the caffeine, or the sheer relief of sharing this ridiculous adventure with somebody, but she almost felt relaxed. Imagine that: relaxed and eating cookies with Sebastian, of all people she knew. Never in a thousand years would she have thought this to happen. “This has been my life all winter.”

Sebastian slouched over, his elbows on the table and a knuckle between his teeth. His eyes stared off into the distance as he mumbled. “So what did Abigail do?”

“I don’t know. She ran away.”

“She just ran away?” Sebastian’s voice rose sharply. “So you’re saying, she’s still out randomly in the forest at midnight in the middle of winter-”

“I couldn’t stop her! She was blasting purple fire everywhere, and yelled at me to leave her alone, and I didn’t have a light to figure out where she went…” The old pang of guilt suddenly struck her again. “…Maybe I shouldn’t have. But she was just so freaked out, and I didn’t know what to do…”

“It’s okay.” Sebastian sighed, dropping his chin into his hand. “That’s Abby. Unstoppable as always.”

He looked miserable. Maru ate another cookie in the hope it would replace the sinking feeling in her belly. Abigail. Her name hung over the siblings like a ghost, fueling their nerves and thoughts.

Sebastian rubbed his eyes. They looked a bit wet. “You did all you can. She’ll find her way home, I’m sure.”

Maru wiped her mouth. “You really care about her, huh?”

His gaze darted around the kitchen awkwardly. “Uh, yeah. Why wouldn't I? She’s my friend.”

“Ah.” Maru decided not to press him. She already saw hints of this new, caring brother shrinking back into his hoodie shell, looking away, tensing up his shoulders. Well, it was lovely while it lasted.

“Thanks for listening,” she said. He stood up and collected their mugs to deposit them in the sink. “Hey, wait.” She was glad to see that he still bothered to turn around and watch her rummage through the depths of her backpack. She hadn’t had the chance to properly empty it since the last time she and Abigail had ventured into the mines.

Sebastian’s mouth dropped when she produced a black, shiny rock and pressed it into his palm. “This…? I really love this. How did you know?”

Maru smiled as he looked closely at his shard of obsidian. “Abigail, of course.”

Finally, a grin cracked his sombre features. “Yeah, of course. Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.”

Sebastian nodded at the sink. “Go to bed. I’ll be up for a while.”

“Okay.” She stood up from her seat and picked up her backpack. Had it really been this heavy earlier? The ticking wall clock warned them it was nearing 1 AM. She could practically feel energy ebbing away with every second. Seemed like coffee was only a temporary boost.

“Maru?”

She turned around. Sebastian pocketed his gift and shrugged. “Don’t worry about Abigail. She’ll be fine. She always ends up fine.”

“Yeah…I guess.” Maru breathed deeply. “Goodnight, Sebastian.”

“Night.”

She left him under the warm kitchen light with the smell of roasted beans and lemony dish soap. The silvery stars on her bedroom walls glimmered faintly in the dark. Maru crawled into her bed and immediately blacked out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to the people who patiently waited out a MIA July. My line of work makes me busier in the summer instead of the rest of the year like most people. I'll be going on vacation soon, so I hope there will be more frequent updates. I hope you enjoyed this turn of events - family bonding ahoy!


	14. Maru

Several days went by. Not a word from Abigail. Maru did her best to stay busy. She helped out in the laboratory, went to work, and spent evenings sitting on the floor of her bedroom half-heartedly staring at a half-finished satellite and its crumpled blueprints. Her old project lacked the excitement and wonder from before. With Abigail, she discovered whole new worlds. In here, she obediently followed instructions. Maru rewired yet another solar panel and sighed.

Her door creaked open. Sebastian slowly leaned his head into view.

“Hi,” he said.

“Hi,” Maru replied.

Sebastian held up a large, fat envelope. “This is for you.”

“Oh.” Maru took it from him. It was yet another package from the Zuzu Institute of Science and Technology. Although she had enrolled in online classes only, there were still a lot of things that came through the mail. This was something that made Demetrius very happy. Physical evidence of his daughter’s connection to an acclaimed institution of higher education. Maru suspected an evening of flurried page flipping and excited babble was in the near future.

Sebastian glanced behind him before stepping inside and closing the door. Here was the one, unexpected thing that had turned for the better. They no longer communicated solely through baleful stares and pregnant silences. It wasn’t an immediate turnaround with friendship bracelets and finishing each other’s sentences, but Maru was slowly getting used to this sudden attention. The morning after their conversation, she nearly jumped out of her skin when he greeted her with a curt, yet cordial nod. In the evening, he’d bid her a monosyllabic “Night.”

Their interactions grew, day by day, bit by bit. So Maru wasn’t too shocked anymore at his presence, but he still seemed hesitant to start conversations himself. Embarrassed, even.

She pointed at her bed. “You can sit there. Sorry about the mess.”

Sebastian sat. Various loose leaf papers slid off the covers. He bent over to pick them up. Maru sat back and waited.

Sebastian pulled his hand out from behind his back. He had two faded blue library books. “So…what you said about the mines. I…didn’t really believe you. But then Abigail stopped coming to band practice and I couldn’t help it. Check this out.”

Maru put down her tools as Sebastian cracked open the aging volume and began to read.

 _How deep do the mines go? This question has been pondered by many Stardew Valley explorers over the years... The truth is, no one really knows. Many of those who venture deep into the mines never return..._  
_However, there have been a few bold adventurers who have traveled deep into the mines, and have resurfaced with interesting reports. Apparently, there are three distinct areas in the mine, each with unique monsters and treasures. Some adventurers speak of gigantic underground lakes and strange creatures._

He paused here. Maru shrugged. “Well, I had no reason to lie.”

“I didn’t think you were lying,” Sebastian said quickly. “It was just so crazy. But okay, listen to this other one.”

 _The Dwarves call themselves 'Smoluanu'... which translates to 'sky people'. An odd name for a group that lives deep underground, isn't it? Another mystery of the dwarves is the advanced technology they supposedly possess. Evidence such as this had led me, despite the ridicule of my colleagues, to propose a new theory:_  
_I believe the dwarves are the remnants of a once advanced civilization whos interplanetary vehicle crashed on this planet long ago. I propose that this dwarvish spaceship bore down, deep underground... and over time, the dwarves became adapted to their new underground environment. Perhaps their old planet had a thicker atmosphere that protected them from stellar radiation, and they simply could not survive in our sunlight._

He looked at her over the edge of the book. Maru’s heart pounded. A race descended from travellers from space? The things she could have asked - then she frowned. “We definitely didn’t meet any Dwarves.”

“Maybe you didn’t go deep enough.”

“I…” Maru pulled her knees to her chest. It was a childish pose, but she shivered, even in the comfort and warmth of her bedroom, at the memories of the shadows and flames. “I don’t want to go back down there.”

“Even with Abigail?”

“I haven’t seen her at all since… Wednesday.”

They settled into an awkward silence. Which was far more familiar, Maru mused to herself. She moved some lug nuts around with her finger on the floor. Sebastian was glaring into the pages of his borrowed library book now. It amplified his disappointment into waves of distress. Maru almost felt like apologising for bringing it up when he snapped open the first book again.

“Okay, then here’s an account from an old miner.”

 _We knew there were riches down there. Like valuable ores, rocks of pure gold, and the walls filled with gems. The Dwarves -_ Sebastian shot Maru a meaningful look _\- always talked about it. So we went. We killed the bugs. We got through the darkness. We were fine in the cold. The walls looked like jewels, and that got us excited. Ambrose almost mined the walls before we told him it was just coloured ice. That should have been a clue that we were in over our heads, but we didn’t care. We were finding plenty of iron, coal, even some jade and aquamarine. We knew we were getting close._  
_But then the dead came._

Sebastian sat up a little taller, holding the book up. The pages nearly grazed his nose as he flipped the page and read on, eyes shining.

_Whole skeletons of ancient warriors coming after us, swinging their old swords. And the ghosts. Spirits moaning at us, making our blood run cold with their evil magic. It was the worst on ol’ Herb, who got the spell right through his chest and started shaking and crying on the floor. We stopped all our mining and threw together a staircase to get outta there. I won’t go back. Not for all the jewels under that mountain._

Sebastian finished the tale with dramatic relish, then looked at her expectantly, almost like a challenge.

Maru pointed at the screwdriver beside her pillow and he handed it to her. “When was this book published again?”

Sebastian peered at its inside cover. “About 60 years ago…”

“Sounds about right.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means that they hadn’t properly studied and worked out a natural cause for this phenomena. They were already fantasizing with the idea of treasure, right? So they were already exaggerating things they saw.”

Sebastian closed the book and folded his arms. “But you literally saw the same things they did.”

“Yeah, and Abigail killed them just fine. How can you kill something that’s supposed to be already dead?”

“Did you look at the remains?”

“No, they kinda…disappeared.”

Sebastian looked triumphant. Maru cleared her throat in annoyance. “Look, we saw plenty of new monsters. They’re just creatures nobody’s researched yet. And the skeletons weren’t even the creepiest thing down there. Those guys didn’t even see the Shadow People.”

“Maru!” It might have been the first time she’d ever heard him utter her name out loud. “You straight up admit you’ve seen literal Shadow People, but you still don’t believe?”

“I totally believe in shadow people! I just don’t believe they’re magical in any way. Another species, probably.”

Sebastian threw up his hands in exasperation. He shot her a supremely annoyed look. It was not the typical Sebastian stare that oozed disdain and resentment and anger, not the one that made her want to curl up in her boots, but the type you gave a friend when they were being a goof. Maru recognised it from when Penny visited and looked disapprovingly around her bedroom, Harvey’s incredulous sighs if a patient admitted to ignoring certain hygienic practices, and the face Leah often made behind Elliott’s back when the poet was, er, waxing poetic. She couldn’t help it. Sebastian just looked so…vivid. Colourful. Passionate.

He did actually colour when a snort squeezed out of her. “What’s so funny?”

“Sebastian, you’re defending skeletons. Seriously, they’re just skeletons.”

He rolled his eyes and she failed to suppress another guffaw. “I’m sorry that I wanted to know more after my sister just wanders up one night and says she’s seen supernatural monsters. Come on!” He suddenly grabbed her pillow and threw it at her. Before the feathered bag flopped into her face, Maru caught a curl of his lip. “You’re the one who’s all into learning and shit!”

Too late. She clutched the pillow and rolled around the floor, helpless. In the midst of her hysterics, she hazily realised he’d said sister, not half-sister. Sebastian put his pinked face in his hands, which did absolutely nothing to hide his grin - so when the door flew open, Robin saw it immediately.

“Maru, hon! Time to decorate the…” She took in the unimaginable image of her eldest sitting on the bed of her youngest. “…Spirit Tree.”

Maru scrambled back to a sitting position and Sebastian immediately straightened. Robin’s eyes were round. Her mouth, fallen open, was also round. She looked back and forth between her children rapidly. Then, an enormous smile spread across her face. “Well! Sebby, we’d love to have you there, too. Two minutes!”

Maru would have sworn that she heard a tiny squeal as Robin floated away from the door. She and Sebastian swallowed their own smirks and giggles as they quickly tidied the bed and hurried out.

They were greeted with a swirl of holiday smells: smoke from the crackling fireplace, cinnamon and chocolate from a snack platter on the counter, and the fresh, snappy scent of pine from the tree in the centre. It was almost double Maru’s height. Fairy lights winked here and there rather irregularly as Demetrius tried to untangle them, grumbling to himself. He brightened when Maru produced the fat envelope.

“Ah, of course! The student course manual!” He ripped the tab off right away, tipping a fat and glossy bound booklet into his hand. “See, it has information about all the classes they’re offering this term. From schedules and syllabus to credits and professors…Doctor Brian Wecht!” He pointed at a man in one of the photographs who stared at them with a severe expression and bright blue eyes. “We took Theoretical Physics together, back in the day. You should stop by and say hello.”

“I’m an online student, dad.”

“Oh, right. But if you ever decide to go full time…”

Robin rescued her with a box of painted pinecones, leaving Demetrius to his fairy light dilemma once more. For the next hour, Maru let herself be enveloped in a blissful, enchanted fog. She was surrounded by true Winter Star cheer. They draped evergreen garlands with scarlet ribbons and silver jingle bells around the pillars and along the shop counter. A battered old boom box played out tinny carols from its speakers. Demetrius finally managed to put up the fairy lights and stood back admiring them. Robin was in her element, organising ornaments and laying out the boxes in an orderly fashion. She charged Sebastian with a box of shiny baubles but instead of putting them on the tree, he decided to hook them along his hoodie. He positioned himself behind Maru so when she turned around, she was met with a solemn brother sporting two glossy globes as earrings. She laughed so hard that she dropped the tinsel.

“Cut it out, you two!” Robin scooped up the fallen decorations with an exaggerated air of displeasure. “Don’t be wrecking my shop this magical season, or someone’s presents will fail to appear!”

She hustled away. Maru suspected it was to wipe away the tears of joy from her eyes.

They were all taking a moment to enjoy their hot cocoa when the bell suddenly rang. “I’ll get it.” Maru tossed another piece of popcorn at Sebastian’s deadpan face before bounding over to the door. She swung it open, and-

“Hey.”

Abigail stood pale against the white sky and frost-covered ground. She was dressed in her typical tunic (still sleeveless) and leggings. But her face seemed drawn and she gazed at the floor instead of Maru. A thin layer of snow dusted her shoulders and hair ribbon.

“H-hi,” Maru stammered. “…Oh! Come in. Sorry. It’s just-”

“Hello, Abigail!” Robin greeted their visitor in lieu of her husband, who blinked over his mug, and son, who was hurriedly removing baubles from his clothes with deeply maroon cheeks. “Great timing, we were just about to finish decorating our Spirit Tr…”

“Uh…” Abigail’s eyes finally focused and darted around the shop, taking in the decorations. “I just needed to talk to Maru.”

There was an awkward pause until Maru cleared her throat. “Er, yeah. This way…”

The girls hurried into the darkened laboratory. Maru felt Sebastian’s eyes upon her back as she flicked the lights on and closed the door.

Abigail slumped down on a stool. She fiddled with the hem of her tunic. Even her hair seemed faded and droopy. Maru sat on the other side of the table. “Is…is everything okay?”

Abigail nodded. “Uh huh.” She looked down. “I’m really sorry that I left you behind.”

“Oh, don’t worry, we both didn’t know what was going on.”

“But I totally ghosted you for like, four days. I’m really sorry, and I get it if you don’t want to be friends anymore.”

Maru stared at her. “W-what? No way. We’re still friends.”

Abigail stirred and wobbled on the stool. “Really?”

“Of course.” Maru hopped off her perch and gave Abigail a huge hug. At first, Abigail stiffened at her touch, then wrapped her arms around her too. The girls squeezed each other tightly. Maru almost thought Abigail was trembling, both fearful and thankful, but made no comment. They let go after a minute.

“But seriously, where have you been?”

“Out. Um, okay. I mean, I did go home. But I also went out. If my mom was at home, then I went out. I…can’t talk to her.”

“I get it. Where did you go?”

“To the forest.” Abigail finally looked up and saw Maru’s shocked expression. “Hey, where else? This tiny town is impossible if you want to be alone. I know I couldn’t go into the mines without you. So I had to go back to the forest - but I stayed on the eastern side, near the river. Because. I had to…think about…the west.”

“Yeah.” Maru shivered.

Abigail was remembering too, because her fingers twitched. “I had to think about, uh. His question.”

Maru’s brows furrowed as she tried to muster up her memories of that night. The muggy, smoky air of the tower…the weird dim lights and creaky rasps of the wind…Maru had been so distracted and confused, she’d had a hard time following the conversation between Abigail and the wizard. Then, it came to her. “Oh my… You’re going to do it??”

Abigail gripped the side of the lab counter. “I don’t know! I don’t want to because like, I don’t even know him. Even if he’s…whatever, I don’t know him! But if I don’t do it, what’s going to become of me? You saw me-” She raised her hands, palms up, warily. “…it scared me, too. So I need to learn to control this…but what does he want with me? What am I going to do?”

With the final question, her face dropped from anger to despair, and Maru’s chest lurched with sympathy. They both looked at the glossy resin countertops for a long minute.

“I think you should do it.” Abigail’s head jerked, and Maru was surprised herself at her statement. “I mean, you’re right. You have a special talent that needs exploring and training. Just don’t think of it as a big deal - you’re learning a skill. It’s just like studying or practicing a sport. And…” She reached over and squeezed Abigail’s fingers. They were cold. “You went into the mines looking for something. Then you went after the Shadow guy looking for an answer. Here it is, you found it. I think you’re brave enough to face the truth.”

Abigail squeezed back, but very quickly and briefly. “To be honest, I’m…not that brave. I work really hard at trying to be brave than actually being brave.”

“That’s kind of the definition of bravery though, right?”

Abigail smiled for the first time. “Eh, if you say so. Then I’ll take it.”

They hugged again, this time without the anxiety and with more conviction. Whatever was going to happen, they could face it together.

When Maru and Abigail left the laboratory, the tree was almost finished. Demetrius swept away fallen needles as Robin and Sebastian put away the boxes. They all stopped when the girls appeared.

“Abigail, do you really need to go?” Robin gestured for them to come closer. “We’re happy to have you here.”

“I don’t want to intrude.”

Sebastian walked over. “Stay,” he said. He took her hand and walked Abigail to the tree. Maru shrugged at her mother, whose eyebrows had shot up at this interesting turn of events.

Demetrius picked up a very small box, crumpled and peeling, and lifted its cover. “The Winter Star,” he said, lifting it out.

It was an old ornament, having been in the family even before Maru was born. Handmade and hand painted, the star had been brushed over with glaze before being fired in an old-fashioned kiln. The result was a shimmering, pale purple star that weighed cool and heavy in one’s palm.

“Who should do the honours?” Robin said.

“Maru,” said Sebastian. He’d let go of Abigail’s hand as soon as they got to the tree, and had tucked his own deeply into the pocket of his hoodie. It seemed like he did not want to take them out anytime soon. He flicked his hair nervously out of his eyes.

“Yes!” Demetrius beamed. “Our own rising star.” He gave her the ornament.

Maru looked up at the Spirit Tree. It looked beautiful (the baubles had finally made their way from Sebastian’s clothes onto the branches). But, as she had noticed earlier, it towered above her. Maru began to wonder why she, the shortest in the entire family, had to be the one to place the Winter Star. But then, Sebastian came over with a chair.

“Come on,” he said. He held out a hand to steady her as she gingerly climbed up. Maru carefully placed the Winter Star upon the topmost needle, hooking the string secure. There was applause from below, and she looked down.

Her parents stood arm in arm, gazing fondly at the picture of the cosy home they worked so hard to create in this valley. Abigail smiled from beside them, skin flushed pink in the warmth of the fire. And Sebastian was right next to her, still with his hand up, offering support as she stepped down to rejoin them all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's a promise: the next chapter will be uploaded before the month is out! I'm about to move and need to tie up my loose ends before everything is upended and whirled about. Hope you enjoyed this, and see you soon!


	15. Abigail

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Done by the time September's out, as promised! And with a little more, too...

The following Thursday morning broke with the sun rising high and bright over the frozen fields of Stardew Valley. Snow crunched finely under boots and the air felt crisp and chilly. It was perfect end of year weather for the Feast of Winter Star.

The road into Pelican Town was lined with large red and white striped candy canes. Evergreen garlands had been wrapped around each lamp post. Red carpets filled the square to anchor the tables laden with the eponymous feast: roasted turkeys with stuffing, casseroles, miniature pies and cakes. Delicious cinnamon nog flowed freely amongst the citizens who gathered around the tables with friends and family alike, sharing the cheer and swapping their secret presents. In the centre was the largest Spirit Tree in all the town: a thickly branched pine festooned with lights, glitter, and a beautiful star at the top.

Abigail sat between Maru and Sebastian, picking at the embroidered holly leaves along the hem of the tablecloth. Behind her, the General Store stood dark and politely silent, paper candy canes and shiny stars pasted to the windows. She could see her parents from beyond the Spirit Tree. They sat at the far side of their table. Pierre was digging heartily into a big turkey leg, a napkin tucked into the collar of his sweater. Abigail could not see her mother’s face, as it was turned to speak with someone else behind the tree.

_This was better_ , she thought to herself. It had been an entire week since the incident, and on that topic, they were still silent. Abigail had crawled back into her bed in the wee hours of the morning. Any ordinary person would have probably collapsed from exhaustion at 2 AM, but she’d held on until 4. The following morning, she had been too weak to get up. Her parents had worried, but Abigail simply rolled over and refused to say anything. She couldn’t bear to look into Caroline’s frowning face even as sharp fingernails poked and tugged at her blankets and a frantic, high pitched voice begging her to respond. Abigail drew the blankets tighter and tried to ignore the pleading regret in her mother’s words.

In the end, Dr. Harvey was called in from next door. He prescribed bed rest and food, promising that Abigail would be up and at ‘em in no less than a day. “She just needs to regain her energy,” he explained, leaving the recipe for a Super Meal behind.

Abigail dozed fitfully all afternoon. At around 5:00 PM, she was jolted awake by the sound of her door hinges creaking. She prepared to pull the covers over her head.

“Abby?” It was Pierre, not her mother. She cracked a single eye open as he tiptoed over holding a plate with both hands. Abigail usually wasn’t one for vegetables, but her stomach growled at the smell of steamed bok choy and artichokes.

Pierre sat on the side of her bed. He picked up the fork, and Abigail had no choice but to allow him to shovel veggies into her mouth. Abigail remembered the last time this had happened - back when she was 7 years old and had broken both arms trying to climb the trees by the bus stop. Pierre had been the one to scoop her up and bring her to the hospital. Then, he’d also helped spoon ice cream onto her tongue after wiping her teary, snotty face and combing the tangles out of her hair.

She hadn’t meant to start crying again, but the memory in mind and feel of cold metal against her teeth again just brought it all out. Again, Pierre fished out a napkin and cleaned up the bits of chewed up cranberries that fell onto the blanket before putting the plate on the floor and giving her a big hug. That was when Abigail realised that no matter what some old magician hiding in the woods would ever say, she knew who her father was. Her mother, on the other hand…

Back in the present, Abigail drew her hands away from the tablecloth guiltily, hoping nobody would notice the long, unraveled threads. She knew who had cooked the Super Meal for her, but Abigail still could not face Caroline. In the days leading up to the festival, she’d spent most of her time at the Carpenter’s Shop. She felt far more comfortable either tinkering with Maru’s satellite or playing online games on Sebastian’s computer.

“You’re welcome to join our family table if you need company,” Robin had said to her on Winter Star Eve as Abigail was preparing to walk down Mountain Road and sneak back home. So here she sat, sandwiched safely between her friends. She felt bad about leaving Pierre alone, but he was making good friends with the gravy so it probably wasn’t too bad.

Sebastian was watching her closely. “Spending time with family is tiring, sometimes,” he said. Abigail just nodded and balled her fingers into fists. The embroidery really deserved better.

Robin and Demetrius were standing, chatting with other neighbours. Abigail knew that Sebastian still wasn’t fond of his stepfather, but the men seemed to have set aside their differences for the holiday season. The afternoon she’d spent with them decorating their Spirit Tree had been really nice, for instance. And it was clear he and Maru had definitely made up. They even had some sort of weird inside joke going on, about skeletons or something. Abigail couldn’t understand it, but it made her happy to see them bicker in such a silly, jovial way.

Maru’s eyes squinted a little through those round rimmed glasses as she smiled and offered Abigail the other end of a cracker. She squeaked in that funny, familiar, Maru way when it broke open with a loud _POP_. They shared the prizes: a small magnet ring for Maru, tiny junimo key chain for Abigail, and a purple paper hat for Sebastian. He sighed and let the girls foist it upon him, flushing slightly when Abigail rearranged it so it wasn’t falling about his ears.

They were licking candy canes when Robin and Demetrius returned. Abigail felt her stomach flop as the family around her began to discuss, loudly, over who should open which present first and from whom. They had welcomed her and been so accepting, but ultimately, Abigail knew she shouldn’t be at this table.

“I’ll see you later,” she said to them. In spite of the protests and assurances that she wasn’t a fifth wheel, Abigail managed to decline all offers. She gripped her little apple-shaped toy tightly in one fist as she finally made her way towards her family.

Pierre had left his seat. Abigail looked around and spotted him down the way, speaking earnestly with Gus. They were both gesturing animatedly towards the candy canes. Still trying to make business deals during a festival - that was her father. Abigail scooted onto the empty bench. The food here had been attacked with gusto, but there were still a few scoops of casserole and sides of roast left on the platters. Abigail reached over to pick up a ladle, and it clattered loudly against the dish.

Caroline turned around mid-sip and froze, locking eyes with her daughter over the rim of her mug. The women stared at each other for a long moment, then Caroline lowered her drink.

“Abigail…” she hesitated. Abigail withdrew her hand from the ladle, and they both pondered the green beans swimming in their cream of mushroom puddle.

Caroline sighed deeply and leaned her forehead against her hand. Her cheeks were flushed and rosy from the snappy cold and heady nog. She kept on opening her mouth and closing it, as if she wanted to say something but changed her mind before a single word got out.

Abigail watched this floundering fish act for about a minute before jumping the gun. “Hey, mom. Um. I’m sorry.”

Caroline stopped and looked up. Abigail noticed her eyes seemed wet and tired.

“I wanted to stop you from making mistakes like I did,” she blurted out. “It’s tempting to run away from a normal life, but it always comes back after you. I wanted to lead you towards a path that would cause a lot less grief.”

“That’s impossible,” Abigail said. “I mean - I’m not you. My mistakes aren’t yours, they’re my own, so let me mess up and deal with it. And I don’t want a normal life. I’m not a normal person - you know that. You do! I’m not going to say it, but we both know the truth now. And you can’t stop me, because…” Abigail took in a deep breath. “I’m going to learn magic.”

Caroline’s reaction was one for the big stages of Zuzu City. She gasped and leaned forward, hands on her sternum. Abigail almost rolled her eyes. But the statement was new to her too. Even after the conversation with Maru, she still hadn’t really processed the idea. Now that she had actually said it, announced it to her mother of all people, she knew it was the right choice. She didn’t quite feel…rageful anymore, but there was always going to be a restless energy roving beneath her skin. She needed to let it out in some way.

Caroline covered her face in her hands, then slowly rubbed her cheeks. “…I can’t stop you. But Pierre, he-”

“He’s going to freak out that I’m going to spend afternoons with a weird guy in the forest,” Abigail said. “But if it worries him that much, I’ll let my teacher know that my dad might come to drop me off and pick me up in order to make sure I’m okay.”

Caroline sat up straighter and looked at her. She really did have pale skin, Abigail thought. And her green-blonde hair was a bit faded. She did see a bit of a younger version in there, though - the natural upward curl of her lips, the slim nose, and the alert, forward gaze in those grey eyes. Abigail was her parent’s child. Adventure and curiosity was in her blood.

Her mother nodded, then picked up a knife, gesturing at Abigail’s empty plate. Abigail handed it over. She noted that Caroline still had not apologised for anything. Well, she’d take it. Stubbornness was probably genetic too. Her mother ignored the casserole though, reaching over and lifting the lid of a different dish. Abigail’s mouth dropped open, nearly drooling at the heavenly smell that came peeling out of that perfectly golden brown crust. Caroline cut a slice of the still-warm blackberry cobbler and gave it to her daughter.

“I seriously love this!” Abigail almost burned the roof of her mouth on the first bite.

Caroline actually snorted. “Well, it would have been in very bad taste to deprive my own child of her favourite as a secret Winter Star gift.”

Abigail fanned her mouth, but ended up swallowing a blistering mouthful of berries anyway. “You’re the best, mom.”

For the first time in weeks, Abigail saw her mother smile. They went back to silence, but a sweet and comfortable one as they finished off their slices of cobbler.

They were interrupted by the deep, sonorous sound of a handbell. The women looked over to see Lewis waving a polished brass one complete with ribbon, a santa hat perched upon his pate and salt-and-pepper moustache all a-bristle.

“Thank you all for coming to our wonderful Winter Star feast! I hope you have all received your secret gift. If not, please do that soon! Let’s give a big round of applause to the Holiday Committee for providing us with such scrumptious food, beautiful decorations and this amazing tree!”

Gus, Evelyn, and Robin all stood up, waving. Lewis waved for the cheers to die down. “Today is a time to be thankful for this year’s good fortune. Forget your worries for a day and relax!” Lewis nodded to the left. “And now, to recite the traditional story of the season, Willy.”

The old fisherman straightened up from his seat at one of the small tables, taking a curved pipe out of his mouth. He readjusted his hat and stepped in front of the Spirit Tree. Twenty-nine pairs of eyes on him, he raised his husky voice.

“In the night sky of winter, there is a bright star only visible from this valley. No one knows why this is, but in times of old, people would come from far and wide to see it.

"They believed that anyone who laid eyes on the Winter Star would be blessed with good fortune. Some even claim that the mysterious fruit known as Stardrop is connected to the Winter Star in some way.

"It is said that if one would be so lucky to eat of the fruit of the Stardrop, they would experience a perfect moment of joy and peace. And that is the essence of the Feast of the Winter Star, to get as close to this feeling as you can with the help of food, family, and community.”

Willy lifted a mug of nog to the sky. “To the Winter Star, and to the valley!”

“To the valley!” cried the people, raising their cups as well.

Before she took a sip with the rest of her family, Abigail looked up just beyond Willy, the Spirit Tree, Maru and Sebastian sitting side by side, and the house she had always known: the General Store. Right above the chimney, there was a single bright star, winking at her through the clouds of sunset.

 


	16. Epilogue: Abigail & Maru

Stardew Valley awoke on the last day of winter in the midst of a final snowfall. Even with the flakes filling the sky and collecting in large drifts on the ground, the people of Pelican Town shifted restlessly. Spring was coming.

But far below the ground, two souls knelt beside a hole in the purple soil, brushing the rubble of a demolished rock away from it. They climbed down the ladder affixed to its edge one after the other in comfortable silence.

They stepped into a dark, glittering cavern that had a lonely lane of stone jutting out over a blazing pool of lava. A fiery cascade of the molten rock flowed from an opening high above, impossibly still surrounded by the luscious fronds of ancient ferns. Abigail and Maru walked slowly to a small chest sitting in the centre. Its golden clasps shone rosy and bright from the glow.

Maru’s mouth dropped open as Abigail carefully eased the lid back on its hinges.

Two star-shaped fruits lay nestled on the black velvet insides. The rumble of the lavafall muffled immediately, and a cooling breeze suddenly wafted around them. Two pairs of hands dipped into the chest, carefully picking up their prize. The stardrops were soft to the touch at perfect ripeness.

Maru and Abigail looked at each other. Then, they closed their eyes, breathed deeply, and lifted the fruit to their lips.

The cavern flooded with a glittering, purple haze. Abigail’s ears were filled with a low, gentle hum. Her mind was filled with thoughts of adventure, bravery, and mystery. She felt the energy under her skin crackle with excitement and adrenaline as images flitted past on the back of her eyelids: beckoning paths in the glimmering gloom of midnight, half-hidden faces of spirits or creatures unknown, and the berry-scented wood in autumn.

Maru could not see anything but the thick mist before her. The stardrop’s taste reminded her of discovery, knowledge, and boundless freedom. Her heart hammered with a yearning ache as she imagined the trail of a chrome capsule rocketing its way through the clouds, hot swirling particles of a fierce young star, and the weightless, silent, uninterrupted stretches of space.

It lasted a moment and forever. Joy and peace. Past and future. Adventure and discovery. Face to face, hand in hand, satisfied with the answers found beneath the surface.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here we finally are! Thank you all for sticking with this story as it ended up dragging out through several months instead of the original planned weeks. I really enjoyed writing this story and seeing where the two adventure girls led me each chapter. It would be a great honour and comfort if you'd tell me what you thought of it!
> 
> I love Stardew Valley very much and hope to begin my third save soon ;P as for more fanfiction, I do have a few plots brewing in mind but chances are that I won't be able to write them until long after November, perhaps not even until 2018. But for now, I do hope you liked this story and invite you to read the others in the "Unlikely Duos" series! 
> 
> Thank you once more for your kind attention and patience. Have a wonderful life of adventure and discovery!


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